This is one of three portraits by Hans Eworth at Tate Britain.
The National Portrait Gallery has two on the walls, the National Gallery none. You may not be familiar with Eworth.
“Hans Eworth moved to England in the 1540s, and was the most distinguished Netherlandish artist to work in England in the mid-sixteenth century. His surviving work consists mostly of portraits done between 1549-1570. About thirty-five paintings are generally attributed to him, consisting primarily of dated portraits of the English gentry and nobility. Eworth was the principal court portrait painter during the reign of the Catholic queen Mary Tudor (1553-8), and he received the large majority of his portrait commissions from Catholic patrons. This close association with the Roman Church was a major reason for his fall from court favour during the reign of Elizabeth.” (National Portrait Gallery)
A solo exhibition of this somewhat neglected artist is long overdue. He is so neglected that you notice the Tate picture above was only acquired in 1984 and the two NPG portraits in 1972 and 2008. Yesterday I went to the NPG to look at their Eworths.
”This painting may have formed part of the marriage negotiations between Mary and her cousin Philip II of Spain. Aged 37 when she took the throne, Mary privately expressed a desire to remain unmarried. However, she knew that this was not possible as she needed to have a child to secure the succession.” (NPG) She looks like the sort of barmaid who will not put up with any nonsense, waiting to serve a customer.
”This double portrait of mother and son was probably commissioned to mark the restitution of the Dacres’ titles and land by Elizabeth I. These had been stripped from the family after Mary Neville’s first husband, Thomas, 9th Baron Dacre, was executed for the murder of a gamekeeper in 1541.” (NPG) Wikipedia provides the details.
“On 30 April 1541 Dacre led a party of gentlemen including his brother-in-law John Mantell, John Frowds, George Roidon, Thomas Isleie, and two yeomen Richard Middleton and John Goldwell, to poach on the lands of Sir Nicholas Pelham of Laughton. During the escapade, they encountered John Busbrig (or Busbridge), James Busbrig, and Richard Summer who were servants of Pelham. The encounter turned into an affray during which John Busbrig was fatally wounded. Dacre and several others were charged with murder and arraigned before the Lord High Steward, Lord Audley of Walden on 27 June. Dacre originally entered a plea of not guilty but was later persuaded to change it to guilty and throw himself upon the King’s mercy in the hope of a reprieve. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he was not executed by beheading but was hanged at Tyburn on 29 June 1541. An account of the execution in Hall’s Chronicle says:
- he was led on foot, between the two sheriffs of London, from the Tower through the city to Tyburn, where he was strangled as common murderers are, and his body buried in the church of St. Sepulchre’s.
His only sister Anne’s husband, John Mantell, was hanged along with his brother-in-law. Frowds and Roidon were also executed for the crime.”
The crumhorn is a double reed instrument of the woodwind family, most commonly used during the Renaissance period. What does it sound like?