Italian School, 17th Century

A set of 6 historical portraits comprising: Godfrey of Bouillon (1060–1100); George Castriot, known as Skanderberg (1405–1468); Gonzalo Ferdández de Córdoba (1453–1515); Charles VIII, King of France (1470–1498); Pietro Aretino (1492–1556); Gabriel Bethlen (1580–1629)

Lot Closed

July 7, 01:40 PM GMT

Estimate

4,000 - 6,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

The Property of the Marquess of Lothian

Italian School, 17th Century

each inscribed in Latin with the identity of the sitter;

some inscribed with inventory numbers

all oil on canvas

unframed: each approx. 64 x 50 cm.; 25¼ x 19¾ in.

framed: each approx. 72.2 x 58 cm.; 28½ x 22¾ in.

(6)

Probably William Kerr, 3rd Earl of Lothian (1605–1675);
Thence by descent.

J. Macky, A journey through Scotland: in familiar letters from a gentleman here, to his friend abroad. Being the third volume, which compleats Great Britain, London 1723, p. 53;
Newbattle Abbey inventory, 10 March 1798 (listed in a variety of rooms);
Newbattle Abbey inventory, March 1833, nos 337, 341–42, 351, 356, 358;
R. Wenley, The Lothian Picture Collection: History and Context, M.Litt. diss., University of St Andrews, 1990, pp. 62–64.

William Kerr's (1605–1675) legacy to the Lothian collection constituted some 300 pictures, a quantity that is all the more staggering in light of the political upheaval of these decades and William’s relatively small fortune. Chief among his collection were portraits, such as this set – in 1645, for instance, John Clerk (1611–1679), Kerr's agent in Europe, refers to his purchase for William of ‘32 pictures off noblemen and uthers in France [sic]’,¹ following the taste for such series of ‘worthies’, that he would have seen in the grand Renaissance collections he encountered on his Tour.

¹6 April 1645, Paris; Clerk to William Kerr, 3rd Earl of Lothian.