PORTRAIT TRADITIONALLY IDENTIFIED AS CATHERINE VANE (C.1628-1672) DRESSED AS A GENTLEMAN, HALF-LENGTH, IN A WHITE SHIRT WITH TASSLES AND A BLACK WRAP

CATHERINE VANE WAS THE FIFTH DAUGHTER OF SIR HENRY VANE THE ELDER (1589-1655) AND FRANCES D'ARCY, DAUGHTER OF THOMAS D'ARCY OF TULLESHUNT DARCY IN ESSEX. THE PARISH REGISTERS OF SHIPBOURNE, KENT, CONTAIN THE BAPTISM OF KATHERINE, DAUGHTER OF SIR HENRY VANE, ON 19 OCTOBER 1628, AND THERE IS A BURIAL ENTRY AT SHIPBOURNE ON 26 MARCH 1679 FOR KATHERINE, YOUNGEST DAUGHTER OF SIR HENRY VANE, WITH A NOTE THAT SHE DIED IN LONDON. DURING THE CIVIL WAR, CATHERINE WAS SAID 'TO HAVE BEEN ACTIVE AS A PURITAN PREACHER' (RALPH EDWARDS, BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, OP. CIT.), AND FOR THIS PURPOSE, SHE PURPORTEDLY DRESSED AS A MAN. THE PRESENT PICTURE HAS BEEN DATED TO CIRCA 1638 (A.J. FINBERG, 'A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PORTRAITS BY CORNELIUS JOHNSON', OP. CIT.), AND THERE IS A MINIATURE VERSION, MEASURING 4½ X 3¾ IN., ALMOST IDENTICAL, BUT WITH A LACE COLLAR (PRIVATE COLLECTION).
HOWEVER, GIVEN THE CIVIL WAR DID NOT BEGIN UNTIL 1642, AND CATHERINE WAS ONLY TEN IN 1638, IT IS LIKELY THAT THE PRESENT PORTRAIT WAS PAINTED LATER, IN THE 1640S-1650S. FOR A PORTRAIT OF HER BROTHER, SIR GEORGE VANE, SEE LOT 112.