Lot 126
126
English School, 17th Century
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more THE GARDEN HALL
English School, 17th Century

Portrait of Thomas Williams, Lord Coningsby's jester, standing full-length, in a red coat, holding a staff in a landscape

Details
English School, 17th Century
Portrait of Thomas Williams, Lord Coningsby's jester, standing full-length, in a red coat, holding a staff in a landscape
inscribed 'Thomas Williams a Plasant Fool That Died in The year 1687' (lower right)
oil on canvas
72 x 31½in. (182.8 x 105.4cm.)
Provenance
Lord Coningsby, Hampton Court, Leominster, Herefordshire.
Mrs Burrell, Hampton Court, Leominster, Herefordshire, sold Knight, Frank & Rutley House Sale, 16 March (and following days) 1925, lot 510.
Literature
J. Cornforth, 'Hampton Court, Herefordshire - I', Country Life, 22 February 1973, p. 453, fig. 10.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Thomas Lord Coningsby, succeeded to the Hampton Court estates in 1671 and was elected MP for Leominster in 1679. His interest in ancient history and family history is reflected in his History of Marden, published in the 1720s, and his commissioning of painted armorial boards of his ancestors. While Thomas Williams may have served as the family jester, the antiquarian William Stukeley records visiting the house in 1717 and being entertained by an 'ancient bard'.

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