Portrait of John Cotton (1547-1635), of Steeple Gidding, near Huntingdon, aged 78, bust-length in a black coat and white ruff

The painter of this characterful portrait continues to elude identification, although its provenance is relatively well-documented. In his journal of travels around England's country houses, Horace Walpole recorded a visit to Newnham Paddox in 1768, where he noted 'a good head of one Cotton an ancestor of the present Countess.' (loc. cit.). At the time of his visit, the tenants at Newnham Paddox were Basil Feilding, 6th Earl of Denbigh (1719-1800), who in 1757 had married Mary Cotton (d. 1782). She was the daughter of Sir John Cotton, 6th Bt., a descendant of Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Bt., of Connington (1570-1631), who, if the later inscription at upper left is reliable, was a nephew of the sitter in the present portrait.