Circle of Sir Anthony van Dyck Portrait of Lady Dorothy Sidney

Circle of Sir Anthony van Dyck

Portrait of Lady Dorothy Sidney, called 'Saccharissa', later Countess of Sunderland (1617-1684)

Inscribed SACCHRAISSA VAN DYCK-EQUES, also inscribed Saccharifsa - Countefs of Sunderland/Sir Ant. Vandyck pinxit/ - See Waller's Poem - verso

Oil on canvas, in a feigned roundel

41.4 x 43.3cm; 16¼ x 17in

Provenance:

Private Collection, Worcestershire

Lady Dorothy Sidney was the daughter of Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, and she was celebrated for her beauty, wit, charm and intelligence. In c.1635, when eighteen years old, she rejected a marriage proposal from the poet Edmund Waller who addressed famous verses to her, referring to her as 'Saccharissa'. She was painted by Sir Anthony Van Dyck several times. This work depicts the sitter at a young age and may have been cut down.