Lot Essay
Together with lot 91, this is one of the distinguished collection of pictures that passed into the Wentworth collection through the marriage of William, 2nd Earl of Strafford (d. 1695) to Lady Henrietta Maria Stanley, second daughter of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby (1607-1651).
The sitter was the third daughter of Lord Derby by his wife Charlotte de la Trémouille (1599-1664) (see lot 91). Her father was executed for his service in the Royalist cause in the Civil War, and her mother became famous for her heroic defence of Lathom House. Catherine Stanley married, in 1652, Henry Pierrepoint, 1st Marquess of Dorchester (1606-1680), as his second wife. Her husband was raised to a marquessate by King Charles I for his support in the Oxford Parliament. Primarily an academic he developed a fascination with medicine, motivated by a belief in his own illness, and was admitted a Fellow of the College of Physicians, to whom he bequeathed his library. A tetchy man, he once challenged his son-in-law, Lord Roos, to a duel, and wrote to him declaring: 'You dare not meet me with a sword in your hand, but was it a bottle none would be more forward', receiving the reply: 'If by your threatening to ram your sword down my throat, you do not mean your pills, the worst is past and I am safe enough.'
The sitter was the third daughter of Lord Derby by his wife Charlotte de la Trémouille (1599-1664) (see lot 91). Her father was executed for his service in the Royalist cause in the Civil War, and her mother became famous for her heroic defence of Lathom House. Catherine Stanley married, in 1652, Henry Pierrepoint, 1st Marquess of Dorchester (1606-1680), as his second wife. Her husband was raised to a marquessate by King Charles I for his support in the Oxford Parliament. Primarily an academic he developed a fascination with medicine, motivated by a belief in his own illness, and was admitted a Fellow of the College of Physicians, to whom he bequeathed his library. A tetchy man, he once challenged his son-in-law, Lord Roos, to a duel, and wrote to him declaring: 'You dare not meet me with a sword in your hand, but was it a bottle none would be more forward', receiving the reply: 'If by your threatening to ram your sword down my throat, you do not mean your pills, the worst is past and I am safe enough.'