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Lot Essay
Born in Antwerp in 1682, Casteels trained under his father, before travelling to London in 1708 with his brother-in-law, Peter Tillemans. He entered Kneller's Great Queen Street Academy in 1711 and became a leading painter of flowers and exotic birds, chiefly for overdoors and chimney-pieces.
The collection of the Earls of Craven, divided between their three houses, Hampstead Marshall and Ashdown in Berkshire, and Combe Abbey, Worcestershire, from which this painting was sold in 1968, included portraits once belonging to the Winter Queen, Elizabeth of Bohemia, sister of King Charles I. Elizabeth of Bohemia assembled a remarkable collection of paintings while in exile at the Prince of Orange's court at The Hague. William, 1st Baron and Earl of Craven, was an ardent supporter of hers during this period, and, after the Restoration, she returned to England on his invitation. Many of her private papers and pictures subsequently passed to Lord Craven at Combe Abbey on Elizabeth's death in 1662. Many of the 18th century sporting pictures from the Craven collection were commissioned by the 4th Earl of Craven (d. 1764).
The collection of the Earls of Craven, divided between their three houses, Hampstead Marshall and Ashdown in Berkshire, and Combe Abbey, Worcestershire, from which this painting was sold in 1968, included portraits once belonging to the Winter Queen, Elizabeth of Bohemia, sister of King Charles I. Elizabeth of Bohemia assembled a remarkable collection of paintings while in exile at the Prince of Orange's court at The Hague. William, 1st Baron and Earl of Craven, was an ardent supporter of hers during this period, and, after the Restoration, she returned to England on his invitation. Many of her private papers and pictures subsequently passed to Lord Craven at Combe Abbey on Elizabeth's death in 1662. Many of the 18th century sporting pictures from the Craven collection were commissioned by the 4th Earl of Craven (d. 1764).