Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex

1596/1601

Studio of Marcus Gheeraerts, the Younger

Associated Names
Anonymous Artist

Painter

Marcus Gheeraerts, the Younger

Related Artist, Flemish, c. 1561/1562 - 1636

This painting shows a man from the thighs up. He has a fair complexion, curly brown hair, a beard, and a mustache. His brown eyes look out at the viewer. He is wearing an elaborate white doublet with a high ruffled collar, a dark cloak, and a blue ribbon with a colorful medallion around his neck. He also wears a gold belt over white trousers. He is holding the golden hilt of a sword in one hand and has his other hand on his hip. The background is light blue.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.
On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery M42

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on wood

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Mrs. Henry R. Rea

  • Dimensions

    overall: 114.7 x 87.7 cm (45 3/16 x 34 1/2 in.)
    framed: 152.7 x 125.7 x 6.3 cm (60 1/8 x 49 1/2 x 2 1/2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1947.18.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Lt. Col. Richard Rouse-Boughton Orlebar [1862-1950], Hinwick House, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. (M. Knoedler & Co., London), by 1931.[1] (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), by 1943.[2] Mrs. Henry R. Rea, Sewickley Heights, Pennsylvania; gift 1947 to NGA.
[1] Information from the mount of a photograph in the Witt Library, Courtauld Institute of Art, London.
[2] Information from the back of a Knoedler photograph in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1945

  • Development of Portraiture, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1945, no cat.

2003

  • Elizabeth I, Then and Now, The Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C., 2003, not in cat.

  • Loan to display with permanent collection, The Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C., 2003-2004.

Bibliography

1957

  • Piper, David. "The 1590 Lumley Inventory: Hilliard, Segar and the Earl of Essex. II." The Burlington Magazine 99 (1957): 299-303.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 20, as British School, The Earl of Essex.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 13, repro., as British School, The Earl of Essex.

1969

  • Strong, Roy C. The English Icon: Elizabethan and Jacobean Portraiture. London and New York, 1969: 297.

  • Strong, Roy C. Tudor and Jacobean Portraits. 2 vols. London, 1969: 1:116.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 46, repro., as British School, The Earl of Essex

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 158, no. 175, color repro., as The Earl of Essex by British School.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 20, repro.

1992

  • Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 112-114, repro. 113.

Wikidata ID

Q20176856

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