Pauwels van Hillegaert

Equestrian portrait of a gentleman

Lot Closed

January 20, 03:24 PM GMT

Estimate

2,000 - 3,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

The Property of the Marquess of Lothian

Pauwels van Hillegaert

Amsterdam 1596 - 1640

Equestrian portrait of a gentleman

inscribed with inventory number twice lower left: 280

oil on oak panel

unframed: 29.8 x 25.8 cm.; 11⅞ x 10¼ in.

framed: 46 x 42 cm.; 18⅛ x 16½ in.

John Clerk (1611-74), Edinburgh, and from 1654, Penicuik, Midlothian;¹By whom purchased for William Kerr, 3rd Earl of Lothian (1605-75), in Paris, July 1649, for £3;
Thence by descent.

Newbattle Abbey inventory, c. 1726/27;
Newbattle Abbey inventory, c. 1788;
Newbattle Abbey inventory, 7 August 1824 (Lord Lothian's Business Room);
Newbattle Abbey inventory, March 1833, no. 280;
Newbattle Abbey inventory, May 1878, no. 280 (Breakfast Room);
Newbattle Abbey inventory, 21 May 1900, no. 280 (as by Philips Wouwerman, Study);
Newbattle Abbey inventory, December 1901, p. 71 (as by Philips Wouwerman, Lord Lothian's Study);
Monteviot House inventory, 14 July 1989, no. 280 (as by Philips Wouwerman, Morning Room);
R. Wenley, The Lothian Picture Collection: History and Context, M.Litt. diss., University of St Andrews, 1990, pp. 42-43, 45.

Edinburgh, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Old Masters and Scottish National Portraits, 1883, no. 246 (as Attributed to Philips Wouwerman).

A letter from the 3rd Earl to Clerk, dated 30 June 1649, lists a large number of desired items, including this 'Cavallier'. The 'Cavalier on Horsebak ... £3-' also appears in a fragmentary reply from Clerk in which he sets out his prices for the Earl. Clerk's ledger of 1647 reveals that he had been in possession of the painting for around two years before the 3rd Earl purchased it.²

1. Clerk was one of the period's leading purchasers and suppliers of continental European works to Scottish collectors, and the 3rd Earl of Lothian was one of his most active clients. Having amassed a considerable fortune from his successful business ventures, Clerk bought the lands and barony of Penicuik, south of Edinburgh, in 1654, which have continued to be the residence and title of this family ever since.

2. All sources cited in Wenley 1990 (see Literature).