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Mr. Philip D. Burden
P.O. Box 863,
Chalfont St. Giles, Bucks HP6 9HD,
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44 (0) 1494 76 33 13
Email: enquiries@caburden.com
A full-length portrait derived from a head and shoulders watercolour miniature on vellum of Henry, Prince of Wales (1594-1612) by Isaac Oliver (c.1565-1617), from circa 1610-20, in the Royal Collection. Henry’s interests were principally in the arts but here he is depicted as a warrior prince. In fact the armour depicted is found today in the Royal Collection and is of particular note as one of only two French tilt armours known to survive. It is thought to have been given to Prince Henry by Henri IV of France, to whom the Prince wrote a letter of thanks on 21 July 1607. The enamelling visible here, may indicate a date pre-1629, by which time the armour had been refinished and the enamel removed. Portraits of the Prince who was the heir to the throne portray chivalric qualities.
Unfortunately the heir met an untimely death at the age of 18 most likely from typhoid fever. This means that contemporary likenesses are comparatively rare. Robert Peake (1551-1619) was the principal ‘Picturemaker’ to the royal household, indeed his studio produced the majority of the extant oil portraits of Henry. A comparable full-length portrait was with The Weiss Gallery, London in 2011 (as Studio of Robert Peake). A three-quarter-length one, in which Henry wears the same armour (with enamelling), is in the National Trust collection at Dunster Castle, Somerset. This painting earliest known appearance on the market was at the Clinton sale in 1950. The contents were described as ‘with one or two exceptions, formed in the 18th century chiefly by the first Lord Rolle of the second creation (1750-1842) and by his uncle, John Rolle-Walter (died 1779). ‘ The Clintons are connected to the Rolles through Margaret Rolle, granddaughter of the 13th Baron Clinton, who succeeded to the Barony in her own right in 1760.
Eaves, I. and A.V.B. Norman (2016) ‘Arms and Armour in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen’, London, p. 165, reproduced fig. 61; Nicholls, J. (1828) ‘The progresses, processions and magnificent festivities of King James the First, his royal consort, family and court’, London, vol. II, p. 33; Reynolds, G. (1999) ‘The Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Miniatures in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen’, London, pp. 91-93, cat. no. 54, reproduced in colour; The Weiss Gallery (2011) ‘Facing the past. Early portraiture 1530-1780’, London, p. 26, cat. no. 8, reproduced in colour p. 27. Provenance: Charles Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, 21st Baron Clinton (1863-1957), Bicton, Devonshire; His sale, London, Sotheby’s, 19 July 1950, lot 122 (as Circle of Paul Van Somer); thence by family descent.
Unfortunately the heir met an untimely death at the age of 18 most likely from typhoid fever. This means that contemporary likenesses are comparatively rare. Robert Peake (1551-1619) was the principal ‘Picturemaker’ to the royal household, indeed his studio produced the majority of the extant oil portraits of Henry. A comparable full-length portrait was with The Weiss Gallery, London in 2011 (as Studio of Robert Peake). A three-quarter-length one, in which Henry wears the same armour (with enamelling), is in the National Trust collection at Dunster Castle, Somerset. This painting earliest known appearance on the market was at the Clinton sale in 1950. The contents were described as ‘with one or two exceptions, formed in the 18th century chiefly by the first Lord Rolle of the second creation (1750-1842) and by his uncle, John Rolle-Walter (died 1779). ‘ The Clintons are connected to the Rolles through Margaret Rolle, granddaughter of the 13th Baron Clinton, who succeeded to the Barony in her own right in 1760.
Eaves, I. and A.V.B. Norman (2016) ‘Arms and Armour in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen’, London, p. 165, reproduced fig. 61; Nicholls, J. (1828) ‘The progresses, processions and magnificent festivities of King James the First, his royal consort, family and court’, London, vol. II, p. 33; Reynolds, G. (1999) ‘The Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Miniatures in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen’, London, pp. 91-93, cat. no. 54, reproduced in colour; The Weiss Gallery (2011) ‘Facing the past. Early portraiture 1530-1780’, London, p. 26, cat. no. 8, reproduced in colour p. 27. Provenance: Charles Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, 21st Baron Clinton (1863-1957), Bicton, Devonshire; His sale, London, Sotheby’s, 19 July 1950, lot 122 (as Circle of Paul Van Somer); thence by family descent.
PEAKE, Robert the Elder (Studio of)
(Henry, Prince of Wales)
Oil painting on canvas (2220 x 1535 mm.), full length standing, wearing armour and the Order of the Garter, with an old relining, the paint surface is rather dirty, and the varnish is discoloured and uneven. There is a pinprick loss, approx. 5 cm. below the Prince’s proper left heel (visible in the catalogue illustration). Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals the old, patchy varnish, as well as some minor strengthening to some of the decorative details in the breastplate and helmet, in the deocrative castellated border on the curtain and draped table, left and right, and in some of the shadowed folds in the Prince’s boots. There are also small areas of retouching along his baton and around his jaw and hairlines, his eyes, and his proper left hand. There are other minor retouchings scattered in the background, left, framed.
Stock number: 9287
SOLD