A Portrait of a Tudor Gentleman, perhaps Sir Francis Walsingham, Continental School, dated 1564, oil on oak panel, framed.
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A beautifully executed portrait of an unknown sitter, but perhaps depicting Sir Francis Walsingham, dated 1564, the year of birth of William Shakespeare. The painting with 'etatis 30' written at the top left, i.e. at the age of 30, so the sitter was born in (or circa) 1534 during the reign of King Henry VIII, the year of the first Act of Supremacy declaring Henry VIII as the leader of the Church of England, here the sitter is depicted during the first few years of Elizabeth I's reign.
It is fantastic to have a painting contemporaneously dated. Given the excellent manner of production, one imagines the artist is from the circle of the royal portrait artists of the time, perhaps being one of them. Unfortunately the identification of both the artist and sitter of Tudor paintings is an extremely challenging task, with even traditionally well attributed paintings often challenged in their attributions. It is for this reason we here describe this painting as 'Continental School', circa 1564, almost certainly of an English sitter. There are striking resemblances between the sitter and the known portrait of Sir Francis Walsingham which is of him in his later years. His birth year is put as circa 1532, and so the chronology is roughly consistent with that as given by this painting.
Sir Francis Walsingham is best known as Queen Elizabeth I's "spymaster" and was instrumental in the defeat of the Spanish Armada, as well as securing the fate of Mary Queen of Scots. We are currently in the process of contacting some authorities on the matter and will update this in due course with our findings.
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Condition:
With some chips to the paint as pictured, and areas of minor loss. The oak panel itself is warped at one side but in the frame shows well nonetheless.
*This painting has since sold at Halls Fine Art Auctioneers for £3,800+premium (9/10/24) after being in our possession.
