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1 of 253523 objects
Portrait of a Lady Signed and dated 1624
Oil on panel | 43.8 x 33.0 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 402978
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The small scale of this picture, in between a life-size portrait and a miniature is unusual, although there are other instances by this artist. As is typical in the work of Cornelius Johnson, the sitter's costume is depicted in seemingly accurate and painstaking detail.
The unidentified sitter in this enigmatic portrait is possibly in mourning for a loved one. The matt black fabrics seen here would have been considered appropriate at such a time. Near her heart is pinned a ribbon point, usually used to lace garments together, which is perhaps worn as a love token. Her earring is very unusual, consisting of a selection of pendants (including praying hands) and a fine chain reaching to her shoulder.Provenance
Probably the 'woman's head with a jewel in her ear' in the Adam and Eve Stairs Room at Whitehall in 1688 (no 35); in Store at Kensington Palace in 1710 (no 193), the portrait seems to have paired up with RCIN 402979 to become the King and Queen of Bohemia; in this guise they spent the next century at Kensington, appearing in the Queen's Closet in the inventory of 1818 (no 200-1) and in Pyne's illustrated 'Royal Residences' of 1819 (RCIN 922154).
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on panel
Measurements
43.8 x 33.0 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
54.8 x 44.35 x 4.5 cm (frame, external)
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
Elizabeth of Bohemia (1596-1662)?, previously entitled