CIRCLE OF SIR ANTHONY VAN DYCK (FLEMISH 1599-1641)
PORTRAIT OF PENELOPE, LADY HERBERT
£5,000
Auction: 28 May 2020 at 12:00 BST
Description
Oil on canvas, oval
Dimensions
78cm x 54cm (30.75in x 21.25in)
Footnote
Note: Penelope, nee Naunton, married first husband Paul Bayning, 2nd Viscount Bayning of Sudbury, Suffolk. He died 1638. The couple were painted individually by Van Dyck.
Married second husband Philip Herbert , 5th Earl of Pembroke in 1639. Resided at Wilton House. One child, William.
Provenance: Bonhams, Edinburgh Summer Antiques Sale 25/6/2015, lot 178, catalogued as 'Manner of Gerrit van Honthorst.'
According to label verso - The collection of Alexander Fraser, 2nd Lord Saltoun. The Saltoun title links back directly to the Duff family of Duff House, Fife.
William Duff, 1st Earl of Fife and builder of Duff House and its significant art collection, owned this portrait and it hung in his private drawing room in his personal residence Rothemay House (a.k.a Rothiemay Castle).
James, 2nd Earl of Fife, added to the family art collection and published a book listing the paintings room by room in his residences:
Catalogue of the portraits and pictures in the different houses belonging to James, Earl of Fife, published by Thomas Collins c.1807. 94 pages. See Getty Museum copy free online. As well as over 17 listed Van Dycks, including a full length portait of Lady Penelope, this particular portrait is listed on page 78, painting No.6 in the private drawing room of Rothemay. No attribution for the painter is given.
William, 1st Earl, resided at Rothemay, rather than Duff House, until his death, after a serious dispute with William Adam, architect of Duff House.
The present portrait remained in situ in Rothemay House throughout the lifetime of James, 2nd Earl, who lived in London mainly and occassionally at Duff House. It stayed in the family until the mid 1960s.
In 1944, Simon Alexander Fraser, son of 2nd Lord Saltoun, was killed in action. Left without an heir, Rothiemay estate was sold to Lord Brockett in 1946. In 1964, the estate was sold to H.D. Ward Ltd and Rothemay was demolished. Sometime around this date, the painting found its way to an art dealer in Birmingham, from whom it was purchased by the vendor at Bonhams.