Oil Paintings, Watercolours, Prints, Miniatures and Sculpture - 8th September 2010
Lot 220
Studio of Sir Anthony Van Dyck Portrait of Lady Mary Villiers
Estimate £40,000 - £60,000
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Description
Portrait of Lady Mary Villiers, Lady Herbert and later Duchess of Lennox and Richmond
Full length, seated in a landscape as St. Agnes, her right arm resting on a lamb and a palm branch in her left hand
Inscribed: Mary Dutchess of Richmond Daughter of George Duke of Buckingham 1640
Oil on canvas, with a carved wood frame
213 x 132cm; 84 x 52in
Lady Mary Villiers was the daughter of Sir George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Lady Katherine Manners (d.1649) She was only 6 when her father was murdered in 1628 and came under the protection of Charles I. Her first marriage to Charles, Lord Herbert in 1634 was brief as he died of smallpox in 1635. In 1637 she married the 4th Duke of Lennox and was given away by Charles I. He was created Duke of Richmond in 1641. They had two children, Esme Stuart (1649-1660) and Lady Mary Stewart who married Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Arran. After the Duke of Richmond died in 1655 the Duchess went into exile in Paris with son. He died in Paris in 1660 and she returned to England, probably after the restoration. Sometime between 1660 and 1664 she married Colonel Thomas Howard (d. 1678) about whom little is known.
Provenance:
By family descent to the Seventh Earl of Craven
Sold on the instructions of his executors, Phillip's London, 11th December 1984 lot 3
Literature:
Barnes; De Poorter; Millar; Vey, Van Dyck A complete catalogue of the Paintings 2004, p.590