Lot Essay
Levina Teerlinc, the daughter of Simon Benninck and grand-daughter of Sanders Bennick was a descendant of the distinguished family of Flemish illuminators. Teerlinc arrived in England in 1546 already married to George Teerlinc who occupied a minor position at Court as a Gentleman Pensioner. Henry VIII granted her an annuity of £40 but her social standing at Court also brought her the position of gentlewoman to Queen Mary and the young Elizabeth. It was in this position that Teerlinc had to present her mistress with a gift on New Years Day. The first recorded small painting 'By Mistress Levina Terlyng the Quenis picture finly painted upon a Card with the Quene by Mistress Newton' (R. Strong, The English Renaissance Miniature, 1983, p. 55) is documented as a gift in 1559 and the attribution of a group of paintings to Teerlinc is based on the Elizabethan Maundy at Madresfield Court (E. Auerbach, Nicholas Hilliard, London, 1963, p. 52, and R. Strong, op. cit., p. 57).
Auerbach (op. cit., pp. 52-55) first related four miniature portraits to the Elizabethan Maundy: an unknown girl at the Victoria and Albert Museum to which a fictitious date of 1549 has been added (Auerbach, op. cit., ill. pl. 4); an unknown girl in the Collection of H.M. The Queen (Auerbach, op. cit., pl. 17); Katherine Grey, Countess of Hertford and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester at Belvoir Castle. To this Sir Roy Strong added Elizabeth I in the Royal Collection (Strong, op. cit., p. 59, fig. 54) and Katherine Grey, Countess of Hertford at the Victoria and Albert Museum (Strong, op. cit., p. 59, fig. 55). Two further miniatures of ladies at the Tudor Court sold in these rooms, 13 December 1983, lots 90 and 91 have been added to this group.
Comparisons of the present miniature with the portrait of Catherine Grey, Countess of Hertford and the lady of the Tudor Court in the Victoria and Albert Museum shows a very similar treatment in the handling of the composition and in the shading of the sitters' faces.
J. Murrell (The Way How To Lymne, London, 1983, p. 26) characterises Teerlinc's 'charm of her face-painting marred by the stiff, puppet like bodies which she attached to the heads'. There appears to be an increased stylistic development in this miniature that dates this work circa 1565.
An old inscription on the reverse of one of the backing papers identifies the sitter as 'Katherine, Queen of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein', and it is interesting to compare the monkey the sitter is holding with the portrait of Katherine of Aragon, circa 1525-26 in the miniature by Lucas Hornebolte in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch where the Queen is also holding a marmoset. This may have accounted for the confused identification.
Auerbach (op. cit., pp. 52-55) first related four miniature portraits to the Elizabethan Maundy: an unknown girl at the Victoria and Albert Museum to which a fictitious date of 1549 has been added (Auerbach, op. cit., ill. pl. 4); an unknown girl in the Collection of H.M. The Queen (Auerbach, op. cit., pl. 17); Katherine Grey, Countess of Hertford and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester at Belvoir Castle. To this Sir Roy Strong added Elizabeth I in the Royal Collection (Strong, op. cit., p. 59, fig. 54) and Katherine Grey, Countess of Hertford at the Victoria and Albert Museum (Strong, op. cit., p. 59, fig. 55). Two further miniatures of ladies at the Tudor Court sold in these rooms, 13 December 1983, lots 90 and 91 have been added to this group.
Comparisons of the present miniature with the portrait of Catherine Grey, Countess of Hertford and the lady of the Tudor Court in the Victoria and Albert Museum shows a very similar treatment in the handling of the composition and in the shading of the sitters' faces.
J. Murrell (The Way How To Lymne, London, 1983, p. 26) characterises Teerlinc's 'charm of her face-painting marred by the stiff, puppet like bodies which she attached to the heads'. There appears to be an increased stylistic development in this miniature that dates this work circa 1565.
An old inscription on the reverse of one of the backing papers identifies the sitter as 'Katherine, Queen of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein', and it is interesting to compare the monkey the sitter is holding with the portrait of Katherine of Aragon, circa 1525-26 in the miniature by Lucas Hornebolte in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch where the Queen is also holding a marmoset. This may have accounted for the confused identification.