Royal & Noble

Royal & Noble

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 75. A set of 12 historical portraits comprising: Sciarra Colonna (1270-1329); King Alfonso I of Naples (1396–1458); Matteo Palmieri (1406-75); Francesco I Gonzaga, Marchese di Mantua (1441-84); Andrea Giovanni Lascaris (1445-1534); Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512); Vincenzo Capello (1469-1541); King Christian II of Denmark (1481-1559); Henry, King of Portugal (1512-80); Louis I de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (1530-69); Jan Zamoyski (1542-1605); Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (1580-1630)..

The Property of the Marquess of Lothian

Italian School, 17th century

A set of 12 historical portraits comprising: Sciarra Colonna (1270-1329); King Alfonso I of Naples (1396–1458); Matteo Palmieri (1406-75); Francesco I Gonzaga, Marchese di Mantua (1441-84); Andrea Giovanni Lascaris (1445-1534); Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512); Vincenzo Capello (1469-1541); King Christian II of Denmark (1481-1559); Henry, King of Portugal (1512-80); Louis I de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (1530-69); Jan Zamoyski (1542-1605); Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (1580-1630).

Lot Closed

January 20, 03:19 PM GMT

Estimate

8,000 - 12,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

The Property of the Marquess of Lothian

Italian School, 17th century

A set of 12 historical portraits comprising: Sciarra Colonna (1270-1329); King Alfonso I of Naples (1396–1458); Matteo Palmieri (1406-75); Francesco I Gonzaga, Marchese di Mantua (1441-84); Andrea Giovanni Lascaris (1445-1534); Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512); Vincenzo Capello (1469-1541); King Christian II of Denmark (1481-1559); Henry, King of Portugal (1512-80); Louis I de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (1530-69); Jan Zamoyski (1542-1605); Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (1580-1630).



each inscribed in Latin with the identity of the sitter;

some inscribed with inventory numbers

all oil on canvas

each approx.: 57.1 x 44.3 cm.; 22 ½ x 17 ½ in.

(12)

Probably William Kerr, 3rd Earl of Lothian (1605-75);
Thence by descent.
J. Macky, A journey through Scotland: in familiar letters from a gentleman here, to his friend abroad. Being the third volume, which compleats Great Britain, London 1723, p. 53;
Newbattle Abbey inventory, 10 March 1798 (listed in a variety of rooms);
Newbattle Abbey inventory, March 1833, nos 339-40, 343-44, 346, 348, 352-53, 359, 361-62, 365;
R. Wenley, The Lothian Picture Collection: History and Context, M.Litt. diss., University of St Andrews, 1990, pp. 62-64.

William Kerr's (1605-75) legacy to the Lothian collection constituted some 300 pictures, a quantity that is all the more staggering in light of the political upheaval of these decades and William’s relatively small fortune. Chief among his collection were portraits, such as this set - in 1645, for instance, John Clerk (1611-79), Kerr's agent in Europe, refers to his purchase for William of ‘32 pictures off noblemen and uthers in France [sic.]’,1 following the taste for such series of ‘worthies’, that he would have seen in the grand Renaissance collections he encountered on his Tour. 


1 6 April 1645, Paris; Clerk to William Kerr, 3rd Earl of Lothian.