Lot 6: Robert Peake (circa 1551-1626 London) Portrait purported to be of Lady Elizabeth Pope, née Watson, half-length, wearing an elaborately embroidered dress trimmed with lace and a pearl necklace and earrings

Robert Peake
(circa 1551-1626 London)
Portrait purported to be of Lady Elizabeth Pope, née Watson, half-length, wearing an elaborately embroidered dress trimmed with lace and a pearl necklace and earrings oil on panel67.9 x 49.6cm (26 3/4 x 19 1/2in).

Provenance: Private Collection, Spain, having been acquired by at least the present owner's great-grandfatherAlthough previously attributed to William Larkin the present portrait can be considered to be part of a trope which begins in around 1590 with the portrait of Elizabeth Vernon, Countess of Southampton at her dressing table at Boughton House and continues through to the portrait of Frances Howard at Welbeck Abbey, which is probably the best example of this type, the present picture seeming to lie somewhere between the two. The black thread depicted here, which normally links the heart and the hands, looks to be broken and may possibly be an allusion to a death and would fit with the traditional identification of the sitter being Elizabeth Watson, who was an heiress at this date. The depiction of her long hair hanging loosely down, was a contemporary symbol of virginity and brides sometimes wore their hair down in this way, one high-profile example being Princess Elizabeth, the future 'Winter Queen', at her marriage on St Valentine's Day in 1613.The traditional attribution to William Larkin may arise from the fact that Larkin painted four portraits of the Pope family, including the portrait of Elizabeth Pope's son, Thomas, 3rd Earl of Downe, which was sold in these rooms, 5 July, 2017, lot 45, which came from Wroxton Abbey, near Banbury in Warwickshire. Peake, who was a close neighbour of Larkin's father, was part of the same artistic circle of Henry Prince of Wales and is known to have painted both Lady Elizabeth and her unmarried sister-in-law, Lady Anne Pope, circa 1615: their portraits which also came from Wroxton are now in Tate Britain (inv. nos. T00067 and T00068). Elizabeth Watson, an heiress, married Sir William Pope of Wroxton on 13 December 1615, and it is thought that her portrait in Tate Britain may have been painted in connection with this event.