Theodore Randue (1643-1724) Inscribed 1700
Oil on canvas | 198.8 x 126.4 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 404070
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The inscription on the piece of paper propped up against the door reads: ''MR THEODORE RANDUE KEEPER OF THEIR MAJESTYS ROYAL PALACCE AT WINDSOR CASTLE IN YE REIGNS OF KIND CHARLES II. KING JAMES. & KING WILLIAM. SEP. XIII MDCC [13th September 1700, presumably the date of the portrait]. ALSO TO QUEEN ANNE. AND TO KING GEORGE'. The sitter began his life of service with Henry Duke of Gloucester in exile; he was made Page to the Bedchamber by Charles II in 1660 and Keeper of the King's House in 1673. This portrait is first recorded in 1842, though George Bickham in 1753 describes seeing a portrait over a door in the inner courtyard of Windsor Castle, which could be this, though he identifies the sitter as one Tobias Rustat (d. 1687). It is probable that this work was commissioned by William III.
This is a rare example of the 'servant portrait', giving the high status of a full-length to a relatively low status member of the household, no doubt in exchange for length and loyalty of service. The household portrait is a form which flourished in the second half of the seventeenth century, when the monarchy learned not to take loyalty for granted. The most famous example of the type is Riley's 'Bridget Holmes' of 1686 (RCIN 405667). The element of playful perspectival illusionism in Riley's portrait is taken further in this anonymous image of fourteen years later. The joke here is that the canvas corresponds in shape and size and is painted as a door – it is possible to imagine a false door being painted merely as part of an architectural scheme. The sitter seems to project in front of this carrying the keys, the tools of his office, and performing his function as door-keeper. If this were an overdoor (as described by Bickham) it would have seemed oddly but perhaps entertainingly out of place; it could alternatively have been placed where a real door might be in order to act as a ‘trompe l’oeil’ – a literal ‘deceiving of the eye’. If this were the case then the image would have be presented not so much as a portrait of Randue but as Randue himself, doing his job and barely worth noticing.Provenance
First recorded in Ante Billiard Room (Room no 553) at Windsor Castle in 1878
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
198.8 x 126.4 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
214.5 x 140.7 cm (frame, external)
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
Theodore Randiu (1643-1724)
Tobias Rustat (d 1687), previously identified as?