Portrait of Cicely Sandys, née Wilford (d. 1611), three-quarter-length, seated, in a black dress and hood, holding a page in a book

Details

ENGLISH SCHOOL, 1571
Portrait of Cicely Sandys, née Wilford (d. 1611), three-quarter-length, seated, in a black dress and hood, holding a page in a book
oil on panel
30 1⁄8 x 23 ½ in. (76.5 x 59.5 cm.)
inscribed 'ÆTATIS SVÆ 36 / AN.^O DOM. / 1571' (upper right)

Please note that 100% of the hammer proceeds from this auction will be paid to the Sandys Trust, registered charity number: 1168357, with the exception of limited deductions towards sale costs across the auction which cannot be accurately calculated at this time, capped at a total of £10,000.

Provenance

(Presumably) by descent in the Sandys family to,
Samuel Sandys, 1st Baron Sandys (1695-1770), and by descent to his son,
Edwin Sandys, 2nd Baron Sandys (1726-1797), and by inheritance to his niece,
Mary Sandys, Marchioness of Downshire and 1st Baroness Sandys (1764-1836), and by descent to her second son,
Lieutenant-General Arthur Hill, 2nd Baron Sandys (1792-1860), and by inheritance to his younger brother,
Arthur Marcus Sandys, 3rd Baron Sandys (1798-1863), and by descent in the family to,
Richard Hill, 7th Baron Sandys (1931-2013), Ombersley Court, Worcestershire.

Literature

J. Grego, Inventory of Pictures: Portraits, Paintings, etc., Ombersley MS., 1905, where listed in the Library.
ONM / 1 / 2 / 7, journal entry for a visit to Ombersley Court, 25 August 1950, Oliver Millar Archive, Paul Mellon Centre, London, p. 17.
Ombersley Court Inventory, June 1963, annotated Ombersley MS, as 'Early English School', where listed in the 'Library'.
Ombersley Court Catalogue of Pictures, undated, Ombersley MS, p. 38, as 'Early English School', where listed in the 'Library'.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Adrian Hume-Sayer Director, Specialist

Lot Essay

In 1559, Cicely (d. 1611), daughter of Sir Thomas Wilford of Cranbrook, Kent, married Edwin Sandys (see lot 15). The marriage produced nine children; the eldest of their seven sons was Samuel, who established the family seat at Ombersley, and the youngest was the eminent writer and traveller George Sandys. In 1571, Sandys was one year into his term as Bishop of London. An unusual double portrait of Sandys and Cicely by an unknown later hand (National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG 1268), depicts the couple bust-length and side-by-side, their likenesses reproduced from the present painting and its pendant.

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