_-_1920.1035_-_Art_Institute_of_Chicago.jpg&width=1200)
Portrait of a Lady of the Wentworth Family (Probably Jane Cheyne)
Hans Eworth·1563
Historical Context
Hans Eworth painted this portrait of a lady of the Wentworth family, probably Jane Cheyne, in 1563. Eworth was a Flemish painter who became one of the most important portraitists in Elizabethan England, combining Northern European precision with the courtly elegance required by his aristocratic English patrons. His portraits document the elaborate dress and heraldic display of the Tudor court with meticulous accuracy.
Technical Analysis
Eworth's oil on panel demonstrates his characteristic fusion of Flemish precision with Tudor portrait conventions. The elaborate costume, jewelry, and heraldic details are rendered with extraordinary care, while the face is modeled with the naturalistic sensitivity that distinguishes his best work.
Provenance
Probably Thomas Wentworth, Lord Raby, 1st Earl of Strafford of the second creation (d. 1737), Wentworth Castle. Barnsley, North Yorkshire, as part of the settlement of the Toddington estate inherited by his wife, Anne Johnson (d. 1754) [see William Loftie Rutton, Three Branches of the Family of Wentworth, London, 1891, p. 116 and Jones in Wolff et al., 2008, pp. 320, 323]; presumably by descent to Frederick William Thomas Vernon-Wentworth (d. 1885), Wen-tworth Castle, Barnsley, North Yorkshire, by 1866 [lent by him to London 1866]; by descent to Captain Bruce C. Vernon-Wentworth; sold, Christie’s, London, Nov. 13, 1919, no. 53, to Mr. Sulley, a dealer of Grosvenor Street [according to Ellis Waterhouse’s notation in copy of London 1866 at Getty Research Center]; Knoedler, London and New York, 1920 [letter from Knoedler dated Dec. 21, 1920 in Art Institute Archives]; sold to Kate S. Bucking-ham for £2,000, 1920; given to the AIC, 1920.
