Sale at Easton Neston

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Lot 164
  • 164

Circle of Robert Peake the Elder c.1551-1619

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Description

  • Robert Peake the Elder
  • Portrait of Sir George Fermor (died 1612); and Mary his wife (died 1628)

  • a pair, his portrait extensively inscribed c.l.:  Sr: Geo: Farmor of Easton Neston in ye County of Northampton K:t / son & Heir of S:r Iohn Farmor K:t of ye Bath by Matilda his Wife, One of ye / Daughters of Nich: Vaux Bar:t of Harowden by Anne his 2d wife Daugh / Heirefs of The: Greene of Greenes = Norton in ye County of Northampton Efq / And Grandfon of Rich: Farmor Efq who purchace'd ye Mannors of Eafton = Nef: / = ton and: by Ann his Wife Daughter & Heirefs of S:r Will:m Browne Knight / This S:r George spent his Youth in ye Neitherlands Fighting under ye Great / Captain William Prince of Orange ~ then Marrying lived w:th great Splen=/=der ~ Hofpitality at his Seat of Eafton where he had ye Honour to enter=/=tain King Iames ye 1:t and his Queen ye 1:t time they ever met in England. / Aet:s Ad:ri 1597

  • both oil on panel

  • each 264 by 140cm.; 104 by 55in. (2)
both full length, standing, he wearing a black costume, in an interior with a view of the old house at Easton Neston through a window beyond with family coats of arms; she wearing a black dress and white ruff, a dog at her feet.

Literature

Brian Fairfax, A Description of Easton Neston in Northamptonshire...., 1758;
GTL 1889, pp.39 and 40 hanging in the Dining Room;
F 1910, p.11, hanging in The Gallery;
PM 1919, p.3, item 1, in the Upstairs Picture Gallery;
H. Avray Tipping, 'Easton Neston, Northamptonshire, the Seat of Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, Bt.' Country Life, Vol. LXII, 27th August 1927, her portrait p.298, illus. fig. 3 in The Saloon;
George Vertue, 'Notebooks', Walpole Society, 1936, Volume IV, p.37 (1732 - 'at Lord Pomfrets.at Easton near Towcester' - 'in the gallery.Sr.Geo.Farmer.at len. 1597.his lady');
James Lees-Milne, English Country Houses, Baroque 1685 - 1715, 1970, p.143, her portrait illus. fig.229, in The Great Hall;
Victoria County History, A History of the County of Northamptonshire, Vol.V, 2002, p.101 “The [sixteenth century] house, which was visited by Elizabeth I on at least three occasions and also by James I and Charles I may appear in the background of a painting of Sir George Fermor of 1597, which shows an agglomeration of pitched roofs, gables, arched doorways, and mullion windows”, and p.63, both hanging in the Picture Gallery

Catalogue Note

This magnificent pair of portraits were painted to celebrate the ascendancy of the Fermor family. The sitter was the grandson of Richard Fermor, a grocer and merchant who made a large fortune trading with Flanders and Italy, and who obtained the estate of Easton Neston in 1535. He lived there in great style until his estates were forfeited in 1540. However, Henry VIII relented at the end of his life, and the Fermors once again occupied Easton Neston. By the early seventeeth century, when these portraits were painted, the rehabilitation of the family was finally complete, a fact emphasised by their entertainment of the new King James I on his way to claim his throne.

George Fermor was the eldest son of Sir John Fermor and his wife Maud, daughter of Nicholas 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden. His father served as M.P. for Nottinghamshire and also as Sherrif , and married the daughter of Nicholas Vaux, owner of the local estate af Harrowden and an influential supporter of Henry VII and of his son Henry VIII, who made him Baron Vaux on 27th April 1523.

George Fermor inherited Easton Neston from his father in 1571.  In September 1585, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester set off to the Low Countries with a substantial army to fight the Spaniards.  Fermor was part of this expedition and was knighted by him in 1586.  On 27th June 1603 Fermor and his wife entertained James I and Anne of Denmark on their way south from Scotland to assume the Crown of England.  There was an enormous gathering and it was reported that the countryside could "scarse lodge the infinit companie of lords and ladies and other people".  Ben Jonson composed a special poetical entertainment for the occasions.  The new King knighted a number of those gathered at Easton Neston, including Sir George's son Hatton (see lot 165).  Sir George's wife, Mary, was the daughter of Thomas Curson of Addington in Buckinghamshire.  They married in January 1572, and she survived her husband by six years, dying in 1628.  They had seven sons and eight daughters.