Hieronimus Custodis (active 1589-93)
Sir John Parker 10 Aug 1589
Oil on panel | 78.4 x 63.8 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 403915
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Half-length portrait of Sir John Parker, turned slightly to left and facing spectator. He is bearded and dressed in black with white collar and cuffs. Left hand on hip; in right hand holds sword raised above his head. In top right corner of painting is coat of arms.
Sir John Parker of Ratton, Sussex, was a Gentleman Pensioner and Captain of St. Denis Castle in Cornwall. The coat of arms in this painting was granted to the sitter’s grandfather, Sir John Parker (d.1558). The artist was from Antwerp but worked in London. Two other signed and dated portraits from 1589 by Custodis show the 3rd Lord Chandos and his daughter Elizabeth Brydges and are at Woburn Abbey.
Signed: Jeronimo Custodis Antverpiensis / Fecit 10o Augusty inscribed: PRO FIDE ET PATRIA and dated ANNO DNI, 1589
Provenance
Sometimes assumed, without real evidence, to have been acquired with other historical portraits in 1731 when Frederick Prince of Wales purchased the lease of Kew House from Samuel Molyneux, husband of Lady Elizabeth Capel (d. 1731); first securely recorded in the Queen's Gallery at Hampton Court in 1861 (no 288)
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on panel
Measurements
78.4 x 63.8 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
90.8 x 76.4 x 2.7 cm (frame, external)
