During a recent visit to the Heinz Archive in London, I came
across a collection of letters written in 1917 concerning a portrait of Lady
Jane Grey. All three letters were
addressed to James Milner, the then director of the National Portrait Gallery
and were written by a R. Brocklebank of Houghton Hall in Cheshire.
Upon locating these I instantly thought, “great, I have
another new portrait search to get my teeth into.” Sadly, it turns out that the actual painting
was sitting right under my nose all the time, and all I had discovered was some
new provenance information regarding a portrait already known to us.
R. Brocklebank, or Ralph Brocklebank as he is better known,
was a wealthy shipowner and art collector who purchased Houghton Hall in the
nineteenth century and had it rebuilt between 1891 and 1894 to house his
valuable collection of art. In his first
letter written on 27th July 1917, Brocklebank reports ownership of a
portrait thought to depict Lady Jane Grey and suggests that he would like to
leave it on his death to the gallery. He
reports that he purchased the painting from a picture shop on Bond Street in
1892 and requests a meeting during his next visit to London so the gallery
could view the portrait themselves.
Brocklebank also informs the gallery that his portrait is oil on panel,
measuring 10 x 7 ¾ inches, and is thought to be by the school of Clouet. A photograph of the actual painting is also
supplied with the letter, but this was no longer stored with the documents in
the archive.[1]
Fortunately, Ralph Brocklebank had a book published in 1904
documenting his collection of over 150 paintings and engravings held at
Houghton Hall. Within this book is a
portrait referred to as representing Lady Jane Grey by the school of Clouet. Item number 39 is discussed and a detailed
description of the painting is also given.
Portrait of Lady Jane Grey
School of Clouet
Portrait (bust) of Lady Jane Grey, with face turned to
the right. She is handsomely attired in
the fashionable costume of the period. A high, close-fitting ruff reaches to
her ears, entirely concealing her neck.
Her hair is pulled back from her forehead, and covered by a jewelled
net. The collar of her elaborately
braided doublet reaches as high as the ruff, and spreads out on either side,
showing a gold collar, heavily gemmed, from which a large jewelled pendant hangs
on her breast. A portrait in The
National Portrait Gallery, by Lucas de Heere (No. 764) confirms the truth of
this likeness.[2]
It appears that the portrait remained in Broclebank’s
collection until his death in 1921. No
documentation has been located within The National Portrait Galleries archives
to identify that his portrait was left to the gallery upon his death, as
suggested in his first letter, and it may be possible that upon viewing the
actual portrait it was decided that it was not something the gallery wanted in
their collection. The portrait again
appears in 1922 in the Christie’s auction catalouge for the sale of Ralph
Brocklebank’s collection, but rather than
being described as a portrait of Lady Jane Grey as seen in the earlier
book, it is referred to as a portrait of a lady said to represent Lady Jane
Grey. This suggests that the gallery may
have informed Brocklebank that the painting may not represent Lady Jane Grey in
the first place.
Portrait of a Lady
(Said to represent Lady Jane Grey)
In white dress, with high collar and
linen ruff, richly jewelled necklace and head-dress
On completion of the sale, the portrait
was purchased by a E. Brock for the sum of £28.8 shillings and thus, I thought
the trail ran dry.
When discussing the various portraits
associated with Jane Grey, one of my main goals is to locate an image of the
portrait so that the painting can actually be seen by the person reading this
article. Unfortunately, in some cases a
photographic image may not have been taken or, as with the Brocklebank portrait,
the image may have been lost during the passage of time. Many thousands of photographs of portraits
are held within the various boxes at the Heinz archive, and it would literally
be like attempting to find a needle in a haystack when looking for the missing
Brocklebank photograph. In all honesty I
had come to terms with just adding this particular portrait to the Auction/collections
page on this website. I did, however,
manage to find the photograph, and as discussed above it had been sitting under
my nose all the time.
After reading Carter’s 1904 description
and attempting a frantic internet search in the hope of a portrait matching
this, it suddenly came to mind that I had seen this painting before. It is discussed in Stephan Edward’s book A
Queen of a New Invention Portraits of Lady Jane Grey as the Taylor
portrait. Edwards concludes that this
image is unfortunately not a portrait of Lady Jane Grey, but a portrait
probably of Elizabeth of Austria and that the provenance discussed in the 1998
sales catalouge for this painting contributed nothing useful.[4] As Edwards reports, this portrait was sold by
Christie’s, London on 12th November 1998 and was described in the
catalouge as a portrait of a Lady, previously identified as Lady Jane Grey. The catalouge also records that the portrait
was once in the collection of A.M and B Taylor, but nothing more is mentioned
regarding the provenance for this image during the sale.[5]
Upon accessing my own file on the Taylor
Portrait, I came across a photocopy of an old image of the portrait located in the
artist box for Francios Clouet at Heinz Archive. Over the years, the gallery have used the
back of this image to scribble various notes regarding the portrait in pencil
and seen in the centre of this is writing made in ink identifying the sitter as
supposed to be Lady Jane Grey, written in the same handwriting as the letter
from Ralph Brocklebank.
It appears that this is the lost photograph which
accompanied the Brocklebank letters sent to James Milner in 1917 and though
most definitely not a portrait of Lady Jane Grey these letters do provide more
provenance for this painting and its one time association with her.
[1]
Heinz Archive, NPG 104/8/2, Correspondence Received 1917, accessed July 2019
[2]
Carter. R. Radcliffe, Pictures & Engravings at Houghton Hall Tarporley in
The Possession of Ralph Brocklebank, 1904, Item 39. My sincere thanks to the staff at the library
of the University of Dundee for assisting me with gaining access to this book.
[3]
Christies Auction Catalouge, 7th July 1922, lot 80. My sincere thanks to Simona
Dolari of Christie’s auction house for providing me with the information
regarding this sale.
[4]
Edwards. John Stephan, A Queen of a New Invention Portraits of Lady Jane Grey,
Old John Publishing, 2015, page 99
[5]
Christie’s Auction Catalouge, 12th November 1998, lot 4
The Beaufort Miniature Called Lady Jane Grey Watercolour on vellum applied to card (c) Private Collection
Sold at Sotheby’s auction house, London, on 13th
September 1983 as lot 90, The Beaufort Miniature is one of the more recent
paintings to be sold with the sitter tentatively suggested to be Lady Jane
Grey. The painting is associated with
the artist Levina Teerlinc and is painted on vellum. The Sotheby’s sale
included a second miniature attributed to the same artist, and both were
formerly held in the collection of Henry Somerset, 12th Duke of
Beaufort.
Before we study this miniature portrait in detail, we must
first examine the artist associated with it and determine whether Levina
Teerlinc would have had access to paint Lady Jane Grey. Born around 1510, Teerlinc was the daughter
of the famous Flemish illustrator Simon Benninck, and it is highly likely that
she was taught to paint by her father. By
1546, she was married, working, and living in England. Teerlinc was granted a salary of forty pounds
a year by Henry VIII, and she is documented as having worked for the English
crown until her death in 1576.[1]
Teerlinc is a bit of an enigma. Artists of the sixteenth century, even those
with a large surviving output, are ordinarily not well documented today. But
the reverse is true of Teerlinc. The State Papers of four separate Tudor
monarchs include specific mention of her, yet no portrait reliably attributable
to her is known to have survived today.[2]
In July 1983, a small number of miniature portraits were grouped together for the first time and exhibited as part of the Portrait Miniature Rediscovered Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. All were painted between 1546-1576, or during the period between the deaths of both Hans Holbein and Lucas Hornebolte in the 1540’s and the rise of Nicolas Hillard in the 1570’s. All of the images were thought in 1983 to have been produced by Levina Teerlinc, though there is no surviving evidence to prove that assertion conclusively. [3] All of the miniatures do show some similarities in draughtsmanship. The sitters do all have rather large heads and stick-like arms, and some similarities in the brushwork were also noted, including the use of loose wash work to create the features. Since the completion of the exhibition, a number of other miniature portraits showing the same compositional mannerisms, including the Beaufort Miniature, have been sold at auction and have also been associated with Teerlinc.
Lady Katherine Grey Watercolour on vellum applied to card (c) Victoria and Albert Museum
Among the group of miniatures exhibited in the Portrait Miniature Rediscovered Exhibition and associated with Teerlinc is a portrait now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Purchased by the museum in June 1979, it is called Lady Katherine Grey due to an early inscription on the back that reads “The La Kathn Graye/wyfe of th’ Erle of/ Hertford”. If the identity of the sitter and artist associated with this painting is correct, then Teerlinc most certainly had access to Jane’s sister. Teerlinc is also documented as producing several images of Elizabeth, including receiving payment in 1551 for a portrait of her as princess. Susan James has also suggested that Teerlinc painted Catherine Parr, which suggests that Teerlinc came into contact with people that Jane would have known personally. There is the slight possibility that she might have come into contact with Jane herself.[4]
The Beaufort Miniature depicts a young lady, seen to below the waist and facing the viewer’s left. Both hands are depicted in front, and she is holding a pair of gloves in her right hand, which has a ring on the fourth finger. On her head, she wears a French hood with both upper and lower billaments made up of goldsmith work and pearls. A black veil is also seen hanging down at the back. A black loose gown with a fur collar and fitted mutton leg sleeves is worn by the sitter. At her neck she wears a small ruff edged with gold thread. The sitter is depicted on a blue background with a gold border.
Unknown Lady Called Lady Frances Grey Watercolour on vellum (c)Victoria and Albert Museum
As discussed above, the miniature had previously been in the
collection of Henry Somerset, 12th Duke of Beaufort.[5]
In the auction catalogue at the time of
the sale, the lot was officially titled “An Important Married Lady at The Tudor
Court.” The suggestion that the sitter could possibly be Lady Jane Grey was
made within the description that accompanied the lot. The catalogue reported similarities in the
facial features of the sitter depicted in the Beaufort Miniature and the
miniature portrait of Lady Katherine Grey at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It
then went on to suggest Lady Jane Grey is the sitter and that the image was
“taken shortly before her death in 1554”. The catalogue did rightfully record that there
is no proof to back up this theory. A
second miniature also associated with Teerlinc and sold during the same auction
was similarly suggested to depict Jane Grey’s mother, Lady Frances Brandon. [6] When looking at the Beaufort miniature and
the other thought to depict Lady Katherine Grey side by side, there does appear
to be some similarities in the faces, but this cannot be used today as the sole
reason to identify a sitter within a painting.
There are other clues in the painting that give us some indication that
the sitter is not, in fact, Lady Jane Grey.
The ruff seen in the painting appears to be the only major datable aspect. The ruff was an essential part of the Tudor wardrobe by the mid sixteenth and early seventeenth century and was worn across Europe in a variety of styles. In the case of the Beaufort Miniature, we see an example from the early stages of the evolution of the ruffs. It appears to be attached to the sitter’s partlet rather than worn as a separate item that was starched and fixed in place, as was seen in later periods.
Called Catherine Howard (Detail) Hans Holbein (c) The Royal Collection
To trace the evolution of the ruff worn in Britain, we must first look at the fashion worn by ladies during the 1540’s. It was during this period that it became more favourable for ladies to cover the chest rather than the previous fashion of the chest being revealed by the low-cut French gowns. As seen in a portrait thought to depict Katherine Howard and now in the Royal Collection. This was achieved with the use of a partlet. Worn beneath the bodice and tied under the arms this would have been made from a fine fabric.
Mary Tudor (Detail) Antonis Mor (c) Museo Del Prado
Unknown Lady (Detail) British School (c) Private Collection
Mary Tudor After Antonis Mor (c)NPG
By the end of the 1540’s and early 1550’s, ladies continued to wear the partlet, however, this had developed slightly. Surviving portraits from this period show that the partlet continued to be constructed from a fine fabric similar to what would have been used to create the chemise, though this had been fitted with a neck band to create a small frill or collar. The addition of a second partlet known as an outer partlet made with a v-shaped collar of a contrasting fabric to the outer gown could also be worn over this.
Unknown Lady (Detail) Hans Eworth (c) Fitzwilliam Museum
Beaufort Miniature (Detail)
Mary Neville (Detail) Hans Eworth (c)NPG
By the mid 1550’s, the small frill seen at the neck had
again grown in size and had begun to surround the face, similar in style to
what is seen in the Beaufort Miniature. This
ruffle would eventually develop into the ruff seen in the later periods after
the 1560’s and would eventually become a separated from the partlet altogether. [7]
When compared to portraits painted during the later half of
the 1550’s, including one of an unknown lady in the collection of the
Fitzwilliam Museum dating to 1555 and another of Mary Neville in the National
Portrait Gallery dating to 1559 the Beaufort Miniature appears to sit in the
middle with the ruffle looking as though it is still attached to a partlet as
seen in the Fitzwilliam portrait and without the use of wire or starch to
create the defined figure of eight shape seen in the portrait of Mary Neville.
Though arguably there are some similarities in the facial
features of the Beaufort Miniature and the V&A miniature of Lady Katherine
Grey, this could be attributed to the artist’s style rather than to family resemblance.
It is my opinion that the sitter depicted in the Beaufort Miniature is wearing
a ruffle that is slightly too late in period to have been worn by Lady Jane
Grey. The miniature is unlikely to have been painted prior to 1554 as the
catalogue suggests. Though a beautiful
little picture, there is no evidence to suggest that it was thought prior to
the 1983 auction to be an image of Jane Grey. This can now be removed from the
list of any likenesses thought to depict Lady Jane Grey.
[1]
Strong. Roy, The English Renaissance Miniature, Thames and Hudson, 1983, page
54
[2] James. Susan, The Feminine Dynamic in English
Art, 1485-1603, Women as Consumers, Patrons and Painter, Ashgate Publishing,
2009
[3]
Strong. Roy, Artists of the Tudor Court, The Portrait Miniature Rediscovered
1520-1620, Thames and Hudson, 1983, page 52
[4]
James. Susan, The Feminine Dynamic in English Art, 1485-1603, Women as
Consumers, Patrons and Painter, Ashgate Publishing, 2009, page 27
[5] Artist file for Levina Teerlinc, Heinz
Archive, National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG50/21/250, accessed 2018. It is not known exactly when the Duke acquired the miniature,
but a photograph taken in 1983 lists the sitter as “Unknown Lady.” This
suggests that the sitter was not thought to depict Jane Grey prior to the sale
of that same year.
[6]
Sotheby’s Auction Catalogue, 13th September 1983, page 31. Purchased
by the Victorian and Albert Museum in 1983 this miniature is catalogued today
as “unknown lady”
[7]
For further information on the evolution of the ruff see Arnold. Janet, Pattern
of Fashion 4, The cut and construction of linen shirts, smocks, neckwear,
headwear and accessories for men and women c.1540-1660, Macmillan, 2008.
The information associated with many portraits thought to
depict Lady Jane Grey is often fragmented. In the case of the Gibson portrait,
only a letter and a photographic image submitted to The Connoisseur Magazine in
1911 exist to inform us that the sitter depicted was thought to be that of Lady
Jane Grey. This portrait has not yet been
located and studied and I have been unable to locate any other information
regarding the provenance of this painting. Neither has any information surfaced
to show that this portrait was ever included in any public exhibition as a depiction
of Lady Jane Grey.
Jane G. Gibson, the then owner of the portrait, submitted a
request to the magazine’s readers for further information regarding the
identity of the sitter and artist associated with this painting. No published replies to her request have been
located, which suggests that unfortunately Gibson did not get the information
she was looking for.
Within her letter, Gibson reported that a scrap of paper was
attached to the back of the painting identifying the sitter as “Jana Graia
Holbein pinxit”. She also noted that the painting was examined
by Sir George Scharf, Director of The National Portrait Gallery, London, who,
she explains “thought it to be a genuine portrait, by the School of Clouet.” Gibson does not, however, recall any thoughts
Scharf had regarding the identity of the sitter. She appears to dismiss the identification of
the sitter as Lady Jane Grey, reporting that the scrap of paper is a “manifest
forgery” and noting that “Jane Grey was a mere child at the time of Holbein’s
death”. Gibson also dismisses Scharf’s
opinion that the painting is associated with the school of Clouet noting that
the work “resembles other painting’s produced by Holbein”. She is correct when expressing doubt over the
identification of the sitter, though the portrait’s association with Hans
Holbein is also dubious[1].
A large number of portraits held in private collections or
sold at auction were associated with Hans Holbein during the nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. That included
a small number of portraits thought at the time to depict Lady Jane Grey. Paintings sold between the nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries where simply grouped and associated with the most
famous artists working within the sixteenth century. Little evidence to support the associations
were given by the auction houses, and access to information and research into
lesser known artists was limited. A
search of the Getty Provenance Database shows that a total of 1563 paintings
associated with Holbein and sold at auction between the years of 1800- 1900. It
is highly unlikely that Holbein would have had the time to paint 1563 portraits
during his lifetime, and therefore not all could have been painted by his hand
alone. It is more probable that a number
of the images sold between 1800-1900 were associated with him due to the fame attached
to his name, some similarities in style or as a way of adding value to the
paintings[2].
As stated above, Gibson is right when noting that the sitter
seen in the portrait is too old to be a depiction of Lady Jane Grey, though this
does not dismiss the fact that Holbein could have possibly painted a portrait
of her. Holbein did have access to and created
a number of images of Jane’s family members including Margaret Wotton,
Elizabeth Grey, Eleanor Brandon, and Charles and Henry Brandon. This does suggest that he could have possibly
had access to Jane Grey as well, though the likelihood of a portrait surfacing of
Jane by Holbein today very slim. Holbein
died in 1543, and if a portrait was ever to surface painted by him then it most
definitely would have to depict a small child rather than the fully developed
lady seen in the Gibson portrait.
Though the quality of the early photographic image submitted
is poor and some of the finer details are lost, the costume worn by the sitter
does give us some clues as to the period in which the portrait was created. We can see from the image is that the portrait
depicts a young female, painted to below the waist and facing the viewer’s left. Both hands are depicted in front, and four
rings can be seen on her fingers. The
sitter also holds what appears to be a flower in her right hand. On her head she wears an early example of the
French Hood, and her gown has a square cut neckline with large bell-shaped
sleeves and fitted false undersleeves. Two
necklaces of goldsmith work are worn around the neck, and a circular brooch is
pinned to the front of the kirtle and tucked into the bodice of the outer gown.
The exact date on which the French Hood was first worn in
England is unknown, however, it is traditionally thought that this originates
with Mary Rose Tudor, sister to Henry VIII, returning from France after the
death of her husband in 1515[3]. The hood originated in France and was worn
towards the end of the fifteenth century. Prior to its arrival in England, ladies wore
the traditional Gable Hood seen in the many paintings of Elizabeth of York and
Katherine of Aragon. The French Hood
became more popular in England when King Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn, who
was also noted to have spent a period of time in France[4].
It would eventually overtake the Gable
Hood in popularity and was worn as a popular item until the end of the
sixteenth century. Slight changes in its
appearance and construction occurred during its popularity that can help us to
identify a possible narrow period in which a portrait was painted.
Isabella of Austria (c) Royal Collection
Anne Boleyn (c) NPG
Unknown Lady (c) NPG
The hood worn by the sitter in the Gibson portrait has
elongated side panels stretching to just beyond the jaw-line and is similar in
style to the image seen above left. This
portrait of Isabella of Austria painted around 1515 shows the French hood in
its early stages of development and around the time the hood is thought to have
been introduced to England. By the
1530’s, the front shape of the hood changed slightly, and the side panels
became shorter in appearance, ending just below the ear. Upper and lower billaments were also used to
add decoration. This can be seen in the famous
image of Anne Boleyn above middle. By the 1540’s, the side panels of the hood
were more concaved in appearance rather than the longer version seen in the
Gibson Portrait which shows us that the sitter in the Gibson Portrait is
wearing a hood that was still in its early stages of development when the
portrait was painted.
Though it cannot be known for certain until the portrait is
located and studied further, the style of costume worn by the sitter is more
consistent with that worn during the early part of the sixteenth century, prior
to the 1530’s. If the portrait is English,
then it most certainly cannot be a depiction of Lady Jane Grey, as the costume
seen is not something that would have been worn by her during her lifetime. The
Gibson portrait can now be removed from any list of potential likenesses
thought to depict Lady Jane Grey.
[1]
The Connoisseur Magazine, vol XXXI, September-December 1911, page 250
During the early nineteenth century, a small number of portraits
at Stowe House in Buckinghamshire were described as representing Lady Jane Grey.
Today, Stowe House is a Grade I listed building that is open
to the public for tours and that also incorporates a private school. It was the former home of the
Temple-Grenville family and George Nugent Temple-Grenville, who was created the
1st Marquis of Buckingham in December of 1784. The house passed through descent down the
family line. Various auctions of some of
its contents took place due to financial issues, and the family eventually sold
the property in 1921.
The Manuscript Room
Miniature Portrait
Early in the nineteenth century houses across the country
began to open their doors to visitors who were able to take a tour of the
buildings for a small fee. A descriptive catalogue of Stowe House and Gardens
was printed in 1817 and sold for the use of tourists.
Described in this catalogue and referred to as being displayed
over the chimney in the Manuscript Room is a miniature portrait thought at that
time to be a representation of Lady Jane Grey.
The Catalogue reports that the miniature, along with several other
miniature portraits, including one thought to depict Jane Seymour and another of
Thomas Seymour,
Came into the
possession of Mrs. Grenville from the collection of her grandfather Charles,
Duke of Somerset.[1]
The Mrs Grenville mentioned is Elizabeth Grenville (1717-1769), daughter of Sir William Wyndham and his first wife Lady Catherine Seymour. Elizabeth married George Grenville (1712-1770) in 1749 and was mother to George Nugent-Temple Grenville 1st Marques of Buckingham. She had inherited a small amount of money from her grandfather Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and it is possible that she had also inherited the miniature portraits as well.
Called Lady Jane Grey by Robert Cooper Taken From The Manuscript Room Miniature (c)Heinz Archive London
No description of the miniature thought to depict Lady Jane
Grey is given in the 1817 catalogue, but it was engraved by Robert Cooper (died
1828) in the early nineteenth century, along with the other two portraits thought
to depict Jane and Thomas Seymour. These
engravings survive today, and inscribed on each engraving beneath the image is
a statement that the originals are in the possession of the Marquis of
Buckingham at Stowe.
What is clearly seen from this engraving is that the
miniature portrait thought in 1817 to depict Jane Grey is based on the pattern
used to create NPG4451, the Hastings portrait and the Jersey Portrait. The distinctive
crown headed brooch is seen in the engraving of the Manuscript Room Miniature worn
pinned to the front of the sitter’s bodice, and this brooch also appears in NPG4451,
the Hastings portrait, the Jersey portrait and the Van de Passe Engraving. The brooch was used in 1997 as the focus for
the reidentification of NPG4451 as a portrait of Katherine Parr. Today, all portraits relating to this pattern
are now thought to be a depiction of Katherine Parr rather than Jane Grey, and
therefore this rules out Jane Grey as the possible sitter in the Stowe House
miniature portrait.
It does appear that this miniature was sold on March 15th,
1849 as part of the large thirty-seven day auction of the contents of Stowe
House facilitated by Messrs. Christies and Manson. It appears in the original catalogue for this
sale, under the miniatures section referring to Royal Personages.
Item 3. The Lady Jane
Grey, in a crimson dress.[2]
An annotated copy of this catalogue in the collection of the
Heinz Archive, London, records the buyer of the miniature as “Lagrange or La
Grange.”[3] I have been unable to locate any other
information regarding the current whereabouts of this image.
The West Stairs
Portrait
The second portrait to be discussed appears in the 1849
sales catalogue for the contents of Stowe House and is described as:
This portrait was displayed on the west staircase and was
documented in the sales catalogue as being purchased by a R. Berkeley, Esq, who
also purchased several other paintings at this sale. As the portrait is
documented as “called” Lady Jane Grey in the catalogue description, this
suggests that some doubt was expressed in 1848 about the identity of the sitter.
Called Lady Jane Grey (c) British Museum
Robert Berkeley Esq (1794-1874) of Spetchley Park, near Worcester, was a descendant of an aristocratic family dating back to the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The Berkeley family owned a large amount of land including Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, which still belongs to living descendants today.
An engraving dating to the nineteenth century that is now in the collection of the British Museum depicts a portrait of a lady wearing clothing that dates to a period much later than that of Jane Grey’s lifetime. This engraving is inscribed at the bottom in pencil. The inscription identifies the sitter as “Lady Jane Grey/ The Marquis of Buckingham/ Private plate”. The Engraving was bequeathed to the British Museum in 1868 from the collection of a Felix Slade (1788-1868), who is known to have been a keen collector, acquiring a large collection of books and prints during his lifetime.
Called Lady Jane Grey (c) Private Collection
Email communication with the Berkeley estate has confirmed that a portrait matching this engraving and thought to represent Lady Jane Grey is still in their collection today and appears for the first time in an inventory taken in 1893.
What can be seen from the photographic image of this
painting is that the lady depicted most definitely dates to a later period than
that of Lady Jane Grey’s lifetime. The
costume the sitter is wearing is not consistent with the style worn in England
during the period in which Jane Grey was alive.
The portrait dates to the 1650’s when the large ruffs worn across Europe
during the earlier periods were being replaced with the plainer broad lace or
linen collar. The elaborate French fashions worn previously during the reigns
of James I and Charles I were by this later period becoming more sombre in
style and colour.
This portrait also appears continental in style and is probably Dutch in origin. The west stair portrait is close in comparison to a number of portraits by Netherlandish artists such as Rembrandt van Rijh (1606-1669) depicting female sitters in the same manner and a similar style of costume. Though difficult to see in the photographic image, the hood worn by the sitter is similar in style to that seen in several portraits of Dutch origin dating to the middle of the seventeenth century. Catrina Hooghsaet wears a similar hood without the attached vail in her portrait by Rembrandt van Rijn in 1657. During the 1660’s, in England, Ladies began to embrace the fashion of wearing their hair curled and pinned up with the use of jewels as embellishment rather than wearing a hood that had been popular in the past.
Catrina Hooghsaet by Rembrandt van Rijn 1657 (c) Museum of Cardiff
Portrait of a Lady-British School c. 1660 (c) Private Collection
How the West Stairs portrait became known as a portrait of
Lady Jane Grey is unknown, and it is highly unlikely that this portrait was painted
to represent Jane Grey in the first place. It is possible that her name was
simply attached to the portrait due to the plainness of dress depicted or that
the frame used for this portrait, which also includes the inscription
identifying the sitter as Jane Grey, was simply reused from another portrait
thought to represent her. It can now be removed from the list of potential
likenesses as it dates to a period of some ninety years after her death and
therefore cannot be an authentic likeness.
The East Hall
Portrait
The third and final portrait to be discussed appears in the
1817 descriptive catalogue from Stowe House. This book records another portrait
thought to be Jane Grey in the “passage
of the east hall” at Stowe. The
portrait is simply referred to as:
No further description is given of the painting. Since some
of the other portraits are explicitly described in the catalogue as “full
length,” and this one is not, it does suggest the possibility that this
painting was less than full length, perhaps three quarter, half, or bust
length. The use of the term “original” also indicates that in 1817 this
portrait was deemed to be old.
As yet, I have been unable to track the current whereabouts
of this portrait. I have been able to
locate a further two references to a portrait of Lady Jane Grey in the
collection of The Marquis of Buckingham that could possibly be this particular
painting, however. These do give us more
details as to what the portrait actually looked like, and when investigated
further, these also give us some indication as to whether or not this portrait
was a painting of Lady Jane Grey.
The first reference appears in the appendix of Richard
Davey’s 1909 biography on Jane Grey.
Davey describes an engraving of the portrait as:
Lady Jane Grey. From a
portrait in the possession of the Marquis of Buckingham. She wears a velvet
gown open at the throat to display a double chain with a pendant cross. On
table, large gold chalice.[6]
Since this description is inconsistent with the West Stair
portrait and Manuscript Room Miniature, also thought to be Jane Grey, it is
possible that the source used by the unidentified engraver was the “original
portrait in the passage of the east hall.”
The description given by Davey of the East Hall Portrait is of interest
as he does give us a little more information as to what this image looked like.
Another clue appears in 1917, in a magazine article
published in the Musical Courier, which discusses the discovery of the then
lost Pryor’s Bank portrait thought to represent Lady Jane Grey. The article reports:
A portrait somewhat similar,
in which this same chalice figures, is in the collection of the Marques of
Buckingham.[7]
From the above descriptions, we see that the East Hall
Portrait was probably similar in look to the Pryor’s Bank portrait. Since no image has as yet been located, I am
unable to discuss the similarities in-depth. However, what is seen from the descriptions is
that both the Pryor’s Bank Portrait and the East Hall portrait included a
depiction of a chalice within the composition.
It is possible that an authentic portrait of Jane Grey could
have been painted that included the use of a chalice within the composition. This does not, however, fit with the general style
of other portraits produced of female figures painted during her lifetime. A number of portraits from this period show that
females where generally depicted by artists in front of a plain background or cloth. This was done to enable the depiction of the
sitter to be the most prominent part of the painting. Latin inscriptions that identified the sitter
age and date in which the portrait was painted were generally added by the
artist, and in some cases a motto or coat of arms as well. Some paintings do survive which also
demonstrate that female sitters were also depicted within a domestic
surrounding that included objects within the composition. These paintings
including one of Princess Elizabeth, now in the Royal Collection, and another
of Lady Mary Dacre. They are rare and are
not as common as those depicting a sitter in front of a plain background.
Since the description of the East Hall portrait mentions the
use of the chalice, I personally err on the side of caution when looking at
this information. As discussed in
previous articles, the iconography of Jane Grey is a difficult and complex
subject due to the large number of portraits and the little information
surviving about them.
It does appear that over the years several paintings once
identified as being of Jane Grey have turned out to be representations of Mary
Magdalene when studied further. As
discussed in my article on the Pryor’s Bank portrait, the use of the golden
chalice in the iconography of Mary Magdalene was popular and was used along with
other artefacts depicted in the paintings as a form of symbolism. Mary Magdalene was commonly portrayed alone,
in isolation reading, writing or playing the lute. The chalice was commonly used to symbolise
the jar of oil used to wash the feet of Jesus. The Symbolism used within
depictions of the Magdalene is similar to the description given by Roger Ascham
in his book The Schoolmaster of Jane
sat alone at Bradgate reading Plato.
This description was commonly used during the nineteenth and twentieth
century by authors and artists when discussing and depicting Jane to
demonstrate that her love of learning had isolated her from her family, who
Ascham notes were out hunting at the time of his visit.
Althorp Portrait Called Lady Jane Grey in 1817 Engraving appeared in Bibliographical Decameron by Thomas Frognall Dibdin
One possible reason for the number of portraits depicting
the Magdalene being confused for that of Jane Grey is the publication in 1817 of
the engraved image of a painting that is known today as the Althorp Portrait.
That image appeared in a book entitled Bibliographical
Decameron by Thomas Frognall Dibdin (1776-1847). That engraving was based
on a portrait in the collection of Spencer family at Althorp house which at that
time was thought to be of Lady Jane Grey. That portrait also incorporated the
use of a golden chalice within the composition. Today, it is now thought that
this painting is a depiction of Mary Magdalene. In 1817, Dibdin stated in the
footnote of his book that,
This is the only legitimate portrait of Lady Jane Grey that has yet been made public[8]
This then allowed others who may have owned a similar
portrait depicting a sixteenth century lady close to Jane’s age, reading and
with a chalice, to then attach her name to their painting.
Until the East Hall portrait is located, it cannot be known
for certain whether It is a possible image of Lady Jane Grey or another
portrait of Mary Magdalene that Jane’s name had been associated with.
The Jersey Portrait
Stowe house had a fourth portrait in its collection that in time was to become associated with Lady Jane Grey. It is known today as the Jersey portrait.
The Jersey Portrait Katherine Parr (c) The Earldom of Jersey Trust
This portrait was purchased from the Pryor’s Bank sale on
May 3rd 1841, where it was described in the catalogue as:
Item 509. A panel painting, Queen Mary I., in carved guilt
frame[9]
The painting remained in the Stowe collection, where it was
hung in the Private Dining Room. It is described in the Stowe auction catalogue
as:
290 Queen Mary, in a black dress, with richly ornamented sleeves-(Holbein)[10]
The annotated catalogue records the buyer of this portrait
as a Mr J. Oxford Ryman, and within the same year of the sale this painting
ended up in the collection of the Countess of Jersey. Initially it was thought to have been
destroyed by fire in 1949, but recent research completed by John Stephan
Edwards has confirmed that this portrait did indeed survive the fire.
The Jersey Portraits identity as an image of Lady Jane Grey originates with the purchase of NPG4451 by the National Portrait Gallery, London, in 1965. Newspaper clippings from the late 1960’s show that almost immediately Roy Strong, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, compared NPG4451 to the Van de Passe engraving, thought at that time to be the only authentic image of Jane Grey, and a portrait in the collection of Lord Hastings, which had been associated with Jane’s name for many years. By 1969, Roy Strong published his book Tudor andJacobean Portraits, in which he also discussed the Jersey portrait under the heading Authentic and Possibly Authentic Portraits. Strong noted similarities between the Jersey portrait and the other images connected to NPG4451 and tentatively suggested that the Jersey portrait was also related to this set and must therefore also be another image of Jane Grey. At that time, Strong also reported that the “face is that of a much older woman.”[11] He dismissed the identity of it being a portrait of Queen Mary I, however, and tentatively put this down to bad restoration. He also noted that the Jersey portrait had been destroyed by fire and that further research was unable to take place.
Research produced and published by Susan James in January
1996[12]
has now established that some of the jewels worn by the sitter in NPG4451
appear in inventories made of Katherine Parr’s jewels in 1550. By June of 1996, the National Portrait
Gallery then opted to reidentify NPG4451 as a portrait of Katherine Parr and
not Lady Jane Grey, as all evidence indicated that the sitter depicted was most
likely to be Katherine Parr. This in turn allowed the other portraits connected
with this pattern to also be reidentified as Katherine Parr.
UPDATE: 20th November 2019
The West Stair Portrait is to be sold from the Berkeley collection on 11th December 2019 by Sotheby’s Auction House. The portrait is referred to as ‘A Portrait of A Lady, Manner of Rembrandt’. Materials are listed as oil on panel and measurements are given as 28 1/4 x 22 inches.
Among the index cards referring to portraits of Lady jane
Grey in the Heinz Archive, London, is a card recording a portrait of her once
in the collection of the Earl of Fife.
Until recently this portrait was thought to have been lost, and to my
knowledge it has not been studied by historians or exhibited in any public
exhibition as a representation of her.
The first record regarding this image located today was
published in a privately printed book from 1798. The book details the large collection of
paintings and portraits belonging to James Duff, 4th Earl of Fife
(1776-1854) across his various properties.
Recorded as being displayed in the large drawing room at Duff House, an eighteenth-century
estate house designed for the family by William, Adam is a portrait of Lady
Jane Grey. The entry reads
item 18. Lady Jane
Grey – half length. This unfortunate lady was forced to accept the crown, 5th
July 1553, and was beheaded 12th February, 1554. She was daughter to
Henry Grey, Duke of Dorset, by Lady Frances Brandon, by Mary queen of
France. She was remarkable for her
learning and virtue. Her husband, Lord
Guildford Dudley, was beheaded on the same day.
Zucchero.[1]
This description is vague and gives us very little detail
about the actual painting itself. The description does give us our first clue
that this painting was not a portrait of Lady Jane Grey, however. The artist recorded as creating the painting
is a “Zucchero,” which suggests the portrait was later in period than that of
Jane Grey’s lifetime.
Federigo Zuccaro (c.1540 – 1609), as he is better known, was
an Italian artist who first visited England in 1574. During that visit he was commissioned by
Robert Dudley (Jane’s brother in law) to paint an image of himself and Queen
Elizabeth. Compositional drawings for
both portraits survive today in the collection of the British Museum. If the Duff House portrait was painted by
this artist, then it could not have been an authentic image of Jane Grey since
she had died some twenty years earlier.
Duff House remained in the possession of the Earls of Fife until 1906. The property was then gifted to the village of Banff Burgh in which the house was built by the then Duke of Fife, Alexander William George Duff (1849-1912). Alexander Duff had inherited the property and its contents by descent, and when marrying Princess Louise in 1889, he no longer required the property as a principal residence. Though he did donate the building for the use of the people of Banff, its contents were sold off through auction. The auction was facilitated by Messrs. Christies, Mason and Woods and took place on 7th June 1907. The auction catalogue for this sale records that all “pictures are part of a very large collection which was made by James, Earl of Fife towards the end of the eighteenth century and all were displayed at Duff House.”[2] A portrait thought by the family to depict Lady Jane Grey in 1907 was also included in this auction, and the catalogue does give us our first detailed description.
item 43 Lucas De
Heere, portrait of Lady Jane Grey, in rich flowered bodice with lace cuffs and
collar, green skirt and crimson robe, lace headdress with red bows. Holding a kerchief in her left hand and
leaning her right arm upon the back of a chair.
On panel 41 ½ x 29 ½ inches[3]
Though the artist associated with this
work had changed since the 1798 reference, it is possible that the portrait
sold in 1907 was the same image as that described as being Jane Grey in the
earlier book.
I have as yet been unable to locate any
reference regarding who purchased the painting at the 1907 sale. Due to this, I am unable to track fully the
documented provenance from this portrait, though I do have a suggestion.
A portrait matching the above description does show
up in 1908, one year after the Duff House sale. This painting is described as
being in the collection of French collector and gallery owner Edward Brandus (1857-1937).
Brandus was well known for purchasing Old
Master portraits at a low price and then selling them on to other collectors
via his gallery in New York. The magazine “American Art News” dated
28th March 1908 records the painting in his collection as a portrait
of Lady Jane Grey by Antonis Mor Van Dashorst[4]. A photograph of the portrait was also
included in the article, and though it is not clear from the poor quality image,
when magnified this image does show a female sitter with a flowered embroidered
bodice, holding a kerchief in her left hand and leaning her right arm upon the
back of a chair as described in the 1907 auction catalogue. Various bows are
also seen around the headdress and down the front of the bodice, like those
mentioned in the catalogue of 1907. This then gives us the impression that this
painting was the portrait sold from the Duke of Fife’s collection.
Lady Jane Grey by Antonis Van Dashorst-Edward Brandus Collection 1908
This painting was then sold by the Edward Brandus Gallery in April 1908. It eventually ended up in the collection of a “Mrs Flake” and was subsequently purchased as a portrait of Lady Jane Grey by John George Graves, an English collector, at Christie’s auction in July of 1930.[5]
In 1935 Graves gifted this portrait
along with others from his collection to the Museum of Sheffield. The painting remains in the museum’s
collection today, though it is rightfully catalogued and referred to as a
portrait of an unknown lady rather than its previous title of Jane Grey.
Unknown Lady oil on panel 41 1/2 x 29 1/2 inches (c) Museum of Sheffield
When looking at the colour photograph of this image,
this portrait is closer in comparison to the description given in the 1907
auction catalogue that also refers to the green skirt and red robe. The
measurements of the wooden panel used as the support for the painting also
matches the measurements provided in 1907.
Due to the lack of documented provenance for this painting, it
cannot be said for certain that this is indeed the portrait described as being
that of Jane Grey at Duff House in 1798. This is the closest image related to the
description given in 1907, however, and this painting has also been identified
in the past as an image of Jane Grey.
The costume seen in this painting is again inconsistent with that worn by ladies during Jane Grey’s lifetime, and therefore this is not an authentic portrait of her taken from life or a panting which was created at later period which was meant to represent her. From the style of clothing worn by the sitter, it appears to date towards the end of the sixteenth century or early seventeenth century. There is some evidence to state that the embroidered jacket worn by the sitter was in use toward the later decades of Queen Elizabeth I reign, with several being documented in the inventory made in July of 1600 listing clothing stored within the royal wardrobe. This style of jacket does appear to have become popular between the period of 1600-1620 where it appears in many paintings of female sitters from this time.
Elizabeth Cary? oil on canvas c.1610 William Larkin
The ruff also worn by the sitter gives us
some indication that this was painted after 1600 as it no longer folds into the
figure of eight pleats worn during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and is now seen
as a flat collar which was probably heavily starched or suspended using a wire
frame or “underpropper,” as it was referred at the time. The style of headwear seen in the painting is
also of interest and does not fit with anything worn by English sitters during
this period. This suggests that the painting may possibly be continental in
origin, though until testing is done on the pigment used and the painting is
studied further this cannot be established.
What this painting does demonstrate is
the extreme measures that people would go to when wanting to own a portrait of
Lady Jane Grey. The identification,
given to this portrait was done with little research into the period in which
she lived, and her name was simply attached to an image that did not really fit
with what was known about her at the time. It is
now clear that she can be eliminated as the possible sitter due to the costume
worn by the lady depicted. If the
portrait now in the collection of the museum of Sheffield is in fact the
painting from Duff House, it can, however, be removed from the list of
portraits that potentially depict Jane Grey.
[1]Catalogue of The Portraits and Pictures in The Different Houses Belonging to The Earl of Fife, 1798, page 15-16
[2] Catalogue of Pictures by Old Masters and Historical Portraits, The Property of His Grace the Duke of Fife, Messrs. Christie, Mason & Wood. 7th June 1907, page 2
[3] Catalouge of Pictures by Old Masters and Historical Portraits, The Property of His Grace the Duke of Fife, Messrs. Christie, Mason & Wood. 7th June 1907, page 10
[4] American Art News, Volume 6, No 24, March 28, 1908, page 24
[5]
Electronic communication, Museums of Sheffield, 31st May 2018
