Lot 35: JACOB HUYSMANS

PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN, SAID TO BE CORNET GEORGE JOYCE
half length, wearing armour and holding a pistol, a battle beyond
later inscribed lower left: CORNET JOYCE WHO SIEZED HIS/ MOSTE SACRED MAJESTY KING/ CHARLES I AT HOLMBY HOUSE/ 1647 AND DELIVERED HIM UP TO THE ARMY/ AT TRIPLOE HEATH HIS/ WARRENTE IN HIS HANDE/ ROBERT WALKER

121.5 by 99.5 cm.; 48 by 35 3/4 in.

oil on canvas

Lady Fairfax of Cameron;
her sale, Sotheby's London, 9th June 1976, lot 191.

The early details of Joyce's life are obscure but he appears to have been born in London and joined the parliamentary army. By 1644 he was in Cromwell's horse regiment and in 1647 served as cornet under Fairfax. He was known as a keen radical and became famous on account of his decisive action in June 1647. Charles I was held prisoner at Holmly where the garrison was commanded by Colonel Graves, a supporter of the presbyterian leader, David Holles. Joyce and others feared that Graves planned to bring the King to London and conclude a treaty with the Presbyterian major in Parliament. Joyce led a force of 4-500 men and after first securing the munitions at Oxford took control of Holmly on 3rd June. Joyce later claimed that he had Cromwell's authority for his actions and he was never court marshalled. In 1648 he was promoted and put in command of Southsea Castle where Portsmouth was governor. He continued to take an active part in political events and after Pride's Purge of the Commons he took a band of men to arrest General Richard Brown, sheriff of London. He speculated in confiscated property, including the manor of Portland in Dorset which he owned outright by 1651 when he was appointed lieutenant colonel. However his opposition to Cromwell in 1653 led to his political downfall. At the Restitution a warrant was given for his arrest but he fled with his wife and children to Rotterdam.