Lot Essay
A variant of the present picture by Wright is in the Tate Gallery. Another version without Lady Churchill, and composed slightly differently, also believed to be by Wright, is in the Marlborough Collection at Blenheim. A preparatory drawing for the figure of Winston Churchill, which was included in the 1987 exhibition (loc.cit) no. 87, is in a private collection. The sitter Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Drake of Ash, Devon, was the wife of Sir Winston Churchill. Winston Churchill died young in 1660, and this picture was painted postumously. Arabella became the mistress of James, Duke of York, later King James II, and was the mother of James, Duke of Berwick and Henrietta, Lady Waldegrave.