Exhibited as one of four portraits including the Bodleian, Houghton and Althorp portraits identified as representing that of Jane Grey in the National Portrait Exhibition of 1866 at the South Kensington Museum. The catalogue for this exhibition survives in various archives today and describes the portrait as:
“Lot 184 Lady Jane Grey – Mark Garrard-bust, fair hair, dark turban-shaped hat with a large sapphire, open collar to the bodice, fastened with jewel. Canvas 23 ½ x 17 ½”[1]
At the time of the exhibition the portrait was catalogued as being in the collection of a Colonel Tempest. The Colonel Tempest discussed is presumably Thomas Richard Plumbe-Tempest (1795-1881) who inherited the tempest estate including Tong Hall in West Yorkshire. Tong Hall remained in the Tempest family till 1941 where it was then used as a school, museum and is currently used as office space.
As discussed above the portrait was attributed to the artist Mark Garrard or Marcus Gheeraerts the younger (1561-1636) as he is better known. We now know that he did not in fact come to England until the reign of Queen Elizabeth and was not born until after the death of Jane Grey so therefore could not have painted a portrait of her prior to her death.
Today this painting is only known through the black and white photograph produced in an illustrated manual of the exhibition where it is again described as “lady Jane Grey”[2]and as far as I’m aware this painting has never been discussed or published in any publication relating to Jane Grey. When viewed by George Scharf the then director of The National Portrait Gallery as part of the exhibition, this painting along with the other two were dismissed as authentic likenesses with Scharf noting that only the Houghton portrait was “probably a genuine picture”[3].
From the early photograph it can clearly be seen that the painting appears to be based on two other portraits once thought to represent Jane Grey during the early 19th century. The dress, jewels and shawl worn around the shoulders appear to be based on Wrest Park portrait and the face hair and hat worn by the sitter is reminiscent of the Elliot/Fulbeck portrait.
Wrest Park Portrait (c) Private Collection 
Elliot/Fulbeck Portrait (c) Private Collection
As the description in the catalogue states that the image is painted on canvas this also indicates that it was probably painted after 1600 unless the image was transferred to canvas at a later period. Due to its similarities to the other images once called Jane Grey it is highly likely that this painting was produced during the late 18th or early 19th century to represent Jane Grey and not taken from life.
One possibility for this the painting not surfacing today is the fact that it may possibly have been destroyed or painted over as it appears to have disappeared after the exhibition.
A portrait which recently came up for auction at Bonham’s auctioneers on 2nd May 2012[4] and described as a “portrait of a Lady” by “a follower of Daniel Mytens the Elder” may possibly be connected to the Tempest Portrait.
What is interesting about this other painting is that the catalogue for the sale also reports that two labels where attached to the back of the stretcher supporting this canvas which state that the portrait was in “the collection of Colonel Tempest of Regent Street” and that it was “exhibited as a portrait of Lady Jane Grey in the National Portrait gallery, London 1866.”[5]
The dimensions recorded for this portrait are more or less
the same as those documented for the Tempest portrait in the 1866 exhibition catalogue.
It may just be possible that the original image of Jane was painted over this
image or vice versa at some point in time or that the canvas was removed, and
the stretcher reused for the present image, the facial features of the sitter depicted
do look incredibly similar to that seen in the early photograph.
[1] Catalogue for the first special exhibition of national portraits ending with the reign of King James the second, published 1866, Strangeways & Walden
[2] A series of historical portraits selected from the National Portrait Exhibition of 1866, photographed from the original paintings. By Arundel Society for Promoting the Knowledge of Art.
[3] Scharf. George, notebook, NPG XXXVI, page 29,30
[4] http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/19685/lot/165/?category=list&length=100&page=2
[5] As above
Lady Jane Grey Revisited 
Hello I own the Bonhams portrait. It bears the Tempest label.
Clearly something happened here as the dress fits better to a nun than a lady of the court.
I initially thought (and dreamed) that this was an overpaint hiding a décolletage à la Larkin.
I did not pass it through Xrays yet.
Have you learnt more on the subject since then ?
Best regards
X de B.
LikeLike
Hello, unfortunately I have found very little else on the Tempest portrait, but, would be very interested to see if it is indeed under the Bohmans portrait. When you say it bears the Tempest label, do you mean a label on the back of the Bonham’s Painting? That would be very interesting 🤔
LikeLike
It looks like it has been scraped (?) i do not detect additional layers or brush marks.
The label has lost the”Grey” , there is one label with “T23” ( T for Tempest ?), and another with “1125”.
Another possibility is that mine was underneath the B&W one previously exhibited which looks to me very (too in fact) romantic and Victorian.
LikeLike
Would you be kind enough to provide me with some photographs? If you go to the contact section on this website you will find my email address.
LikeLike
yes it’s done
LikeLike