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拍品專文
James Stuart inherited the Scottish title of Duke of Lennox from his father in 1624, at the age of twelve, and the ageing King James I, as his nearest male relative, became his guardian. He was made a Gentleman of the Bedchamber in 1625 and was knighted in 1630. King Charles I appointed him a Privy Councillor in 1633 and installed him as a Knight of the Garter, England's highest order of chivalry, in the same year. In 1637 he married Mary Villiers, only daughter of the King's favourite George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. He was later raised to the English peerage as the 1st Duke of Richmond in 1641. During the English Civil War, in which three of his brothers died in the Royalist cause, he proved himself one of King Charles I's most loyal supporters, contributing enormous sums of money, and after the King's capitulation he was one of the five peers who offered themselves to Parliament for 'punishment' instead of the King - to no avail.
This painting relates to van Dyck's earliest and most celebrated portrait of the sitter, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which Sir Oliver Millar hailed as 'one of the painter's most accomplished and beautifully executed English portraits' (op. cit.). The composition recalls Titian's famous portrait of Charles V with a Hound, which was then in Charles I's collection (Madrid, Museo del Prado). Other good copies include those at Ham House, Ombersley Court and in the Pennington-Mellor-Munthe Trust (formerly at Cobham Hall). Van Dyck also painted an informal, half-length portrait of the sitter in circa 1636 (Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood, London), and a second full-length portrait, without a hound (private collection) for which see O. Millar, op. cit., pp. 586-7, nos. IV.201 and IV.202 respectively.
In the 1971 catalogue (op.cit.) it is stated that the picture was previously owned by Henry Bradshawe-Isherwood. Bradshawe-Isherwood had inherited Marple Hall in Cheshire in 1924 on the death of his father and in 1929 put most of the Hall's contents up for auction in a two date sale on the 30 and 31 July. Marple Hall had been in his family since its acquisition by his ancestor Henry Bradshawe in the seventeenth century. The house remained in the possession of the family after the sale of its contents, although it was abandoned and fell into ruin; it was acquired by Marple Council in 1953 when the ruin of the house was demolished.
This painting relates to van Dyck's earliest and most celebrated portrait of the sitter, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which Sir Oliver Millar hailed as 'one of the painter's most accomplished and beautifully executed English portraits' (op. cit.). The composition recalls Titian's famous portrait of Charles V with a Hound, which was then in Charles I's collection (Madrid, Museo del Prado). Other good copies include those at Ham House, Ombersley Court and in the Pennington-Mellor-Munthe Trust (formerly at Cobham Hall). Van Dyck also painted an informal, half-length portrait of the sitter in circa 1636 (Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood, London), and a second full-length portrait, without a hound (private collection) for which see O. Millar, op. cit., pp. 586-7, nos. IV.201 and IV.202 respectively.
In the 1971 catalogue (op.cit.) it is stated that the picture was previously owned by Henry Bradshawe-Isherwood. Bradshawe-Isherwood had inherited Marple Hall in Cheshire in 1924 on the death of his father and in 1929 put most of the Hall's contents up for auction in a two date sale on the 30 and 31 July. Marple Hall had been in his family since its acquisition by his ancestor Henry Bradshawe in the seventeenth century. The house remained in the possession of the family after the sale of its contents, although it was abandoned and fell into ruin; it was acquired by Marple Council in 1953 when the ruin of the house was demolished.