Francis Otto, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1530-1559) c.1595
Watercolour on vellum | 7.0 x 5.5 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 420437
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This is one of the series of forty-nine portrait miniatures (420431-420679; Royal Collection) of German and other forebears of the Hanoverian dynasty which were first recorded hanging in Queen Caroline's Closet at Kensington Palace by George Vertue in 1743. The series can be dated fairly narrowly by internal evidence to the years between 1593-7 and appears to be the work of a single as yet unidentified miniature painter who worked mainly at the Brunswick-Lüneburg court but also visited Brandenburg and other centres. The artist was a naïve successor to the tradition of German court portraiture established by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) at the court of the Elector of Saxony at Wittenberg. Francis Otto, the eldest son of Ernest I (see 420435) succeeded as Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg on the death of his father in 1546 Inscribed at the top in white: FRANTZ OTTO HERZOG ZU BRAUNS: UND LUNEB:
Provenance
Acquired by George I or George II; first recorded in Queen Caroline's Closet at Kensington Palace in 1743
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Medium and techniques
Watercolour on vellum
Measurements
7.0 x 5.5 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
8.2 x 6.8 cm (frame, external)
6.9 x 5.4 cm (sight)
Category
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
Reynolds 1999 : Reynolds, G., 1999. The Sixteenth & Seventeenth Century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London – Reynolds 1999 187Cust 1910 : Cust, L., 1910. Windsor Castle: Portrait Miniatures, London – Cust 1910 36/15Alternative title(s)
Franz Otto, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1530-1559)