Studio of Sir Anthony van Dyck 1599-1641

The sitter was the daughter of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, and his notorious wife, Frances, divorced wife of the Earl of Essex and daughter of Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk.  Her mother was sentenced to death for poisoning Sir Thomas Overbury who had opposed her marriage to the Earl of Somerset, but was later pardoned.  Anne was born in the Tower during her mother's imprisonment.  In 1637 she married William Russell, 5th Earl and later 1st Duke of Bedford.  Their marriage was a happy one and Anne bore her husband seven sons and three daughters.  Their eldest son, William, Lord Russell, was convicted of treason in the Rye House Plot and was beheaded in 1683.  Their second son, Wriothesley, succeeded as 2nd Duke of Bedford.  Lord and Lady Bedford are not only remembered for the continued draining of the Fens, the building of the wet and dry docks, and the Howland docks at Rotherhithe, but also for the extensive gardens laid out at Woburn and at Brompton Park.

The present picture, which is based on the celebrated picture at Petworth, came from the collection of the Baron Le Vevasseur at Chateau des If's and by tradition was painted by Sir Peter Lely.