Catherine Howard, Lady d'Aubigny
Sir Anthony van Dyck·c. 1638
Historical Context
Catherine Howard, Lady d'Aubigny (c. 1638), at the National Gallery of Art, depicts a prominent figure at the court of Charles I, painted during Van Dyck's years as the king's principal painter (1632-1641). Lady d'Aubigny, born Catherine Howard, was related to the Duke of Norfolk's family and married Lord George Stuart, a Catholic nobleman in the king's circle. Van Dyck presents her in the fashionable silk and satin of the Caroline court, her beauty enhanced by the atmospheric handling and warm palette that distinguish his English portraits. The painting reflects the sophisticated court culture that Charles I cultivated before the Civil War destroyed both his court and his kingdom.
Technical Analysis
The portrait shows Van Dyck's English manner at its most elegant, with a cool, silvery palette and fluid handling of the blue silk costume. The face is modeled with delicate, luminous flesh tones, and the relaxed pose conveys effortless aristocratic grace.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the cool, silvery palette and fluid handling of the blue silk costume in Van Dyck's English manner at its most elegant.
- ◆Look at the delicate, luminous flesh tones and the relaxed pose conveying effortless aristocratic grace.
- ◆Observe Catherine Howard, Lady d'Aubigny, a prominent figure at Charles I's court painted c. 1638, reflecting the sophisticated culture before the Civil War.
Provenance
Catherine Howard, Lady d'Aubigny [1620-1650, married secondly to Sir James Livingstone, 1st earl of Newburgh]; presumably by inheritance to her son, Charles Stuart, Lord d'Aubigny, 6th duke of Lennox and 3rd duke of Richmond [1639-1672]; presumably by inheritance to his third wife, Frances Teresa Stuart [her maiden name], Dowager Duchess of Richmond and Lennox [1648-1702]; by inheritance to her sister-in-law, Catherine Stuart O'Brien Williamson, suo jure baroness of Clifton [1640-1702], and daughter of the sitter;[1] by inheritance to her daughter, Catherine O'Brien, baroness Clifton [1673-1706], who married Edward Hyde, 3rd earl of Clarendon [first creation, 1661-1723], Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire;[2] by inheritance to his cousin, Henry Hyde, 4th and last earl of Clarendon [first creation] and 2nd earl of Rochester [1672-1753]; by inheritance through his daughter, Lady Jane Hyde, Countess of Essex [1696-1723/1724, married William Capell, 3rd earl of Essex] to her daughter, Charlotte Capell [1721-1790], who married Thomas Villiers, 1st earl of Clarendon [second creation, 1709-1786], The Grove, Watford, Hertfordshire; by inheritance to their son, Thomas Villiers, 2nd earl of Clarendon [1753-1824], The Grove; by inheritance to his brother, John Charles Villiers, 3rd earl of Clarendon [1757-1838], The Grove; by inheritance to his nephew, George William Villiers, 4th earl of Clarendon [1800-1870], The Grove;[3] by inheritance to his son, Edward Hyde Villiers, 5th earl of Clarendon [1846-1914], The Grove;[4] sold 1909 to (Arthur J. Sulley, London);[5] sold 1909 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania;[6] inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park; gift 1942 to NGA. [1] Catherine Stuart O'Brien Williamson survived her sister-in-law by less than a month. The latter died October 15, 1702, and the former was buried November 11, 1702 (_Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage..._, London, 1956: 688). [2] Provenance to here outlined by Lady Theresa Lewis, _Lives of the Friends and Contemporaries of Lord Chancellor Clarendon: Illustrative of Portraits in His Gallery_, 3 vols., London, 1852: III:322. The Clarendon collection had been moved to Cornbury Park by 1683-1685, before _Lady d'Aubigny_ entered the collection around 1702. See Robin Gibson, _Catalogue of Portraits in the Collection of the Earl of Clarendon_, New Haven, 1977: 138. [3] Lady Maria Theresa Lewis (Lewis 1852) wrote about the Clarendon collection during the life of her brother, George William Villiers, the 4th earl of Clarendon (second creation). Her notes detail the painting's provenance up through the life of Edward Hyde, the 3rd earl of Clarendon (first creation), but it is reasonable to deduce an unbroken line of inheritance down to the 4th earl (second creation). [4] Listed in this collection in Horace Walpole, _Anecdotes of painting in England; with some account of the principal artists, with additions by the Rev. James Dallaway, and Vertue's catalogue of engravers who have been born or resided in England_, 3 vols., ed. and rev. by Ralph N. Wornum, London, 1876: 3:328 note 1 (330). [5] In 1909 when Emil Schaeffer published his monograph on Van Dyck, _Lady d'Aubigny_ was still in the collection of the earl of Clarendon, The Grove (Emil Schaeffer, _Van Dyck, des Meisters Gemälde in 537 Abbildungen [Klassiker der Kunst 13], Stuttgart and Leipzig, 1909: 413). [6] According to notes by Edith Standen, secretary of the Widener collection, in NGA curatorial files.
