English School, 16th Century

Portrait of Edward Fiennes de Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln (1512-1585), half-length, in a black embroidered fur-lined coat, wearing the chain of the Order of the Garter bearing the pendant of the Greater Saint George

Details

English School, 16th Century
Portrait of Edward Fiennes de Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln (1512-1585), half-length, in a black embroidered fur-lined coat, wearing the chain of the Order of the Garter bearing the pendant of the Greater Saint George
with identifying inscription on a Woburn cartellino 'Edward Earle of Lincoln L.^d High Admirall of England' and dated '1584' (upper right)
oil on panel
26 1/8 x 29 5/8 in. (66.3 x 75.3 cm.)

Provenance

The Earls and subsequently Dukes of Bedford, Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, presumably since the early-17th century, and by descent; The Dukes of Bedford sale, Christie's, London, 19 January 1951, lot 114, as 'Cornelis Ketel' (70 gns. to Elmhurst).
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 21 November 1986, lot 71, as 'English School, 1584' (£3,520).
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 8 March 1989, lot 20, as 'English School, 1584' (£5,500).
Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 4 October 2007, lot 54, as 'English School, 16th Century' ($49,000 to the present owner).

Literature

E. Lodge, An Historical Catalogue of an Exhibition of Portraits, 1829, p. 37.
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Paintings in the Collection of John, Duke of Bedford, K.G., at Woburn Abbey, 1834, no. 260, as 'Cornelis Ketel'.
Catalogue of Pictures, Miniatures, Drawings and Busts at Woburn Abbey, 1868, p. 10, as 'Cornelis Ketel'.
G. Scharf, A Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures at Woburn Abbey, 1890, p. 18, no. 24.
A.M. Bedford and E.M. Russell, Catalogue of the Pictures at Woburn Abbey, I, 1892, p. 323.
R. Strong, Tudor and Jacobean Portraits, London, 1969, I, p. 202.

Engraved

J. Jenkins, for Lodge's Portraits, III, pl. 48.

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Lot Essay

The son of Thomas, 8th Lord Clinton, the sitter joined Lord Lisle, Lord High-Admiral, in 1540 and served with him during the storming of Edinburgh in 1544. After the succession of Edward VI, Clinton was appointed Lord High-Admiral, and upon the succession of Queen Mary, he was granted the special commission as Commander-in-Chief of the fleet and of forces against France and Scotland. He remained in this office after Queen Elizabeth came to the throne, and she later created him Earl of Lincoln in 1572. Clinton married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Blount and mistress of Henry VIII, in 1534. He married secondly Ursula, daughter of William, Lord Stourton, in 1541; and thirdly, Elizabeth Fitzgerald, in 1552.

A variant of this portrait is in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

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