Court versus Parliament 1640–1720

Edward Collier, Still Life  1699

This is a ‘vanitas’ still life, a genre of painting originating in the Netherlands where the objects symbolise the passing of time and the inevitability of death. The Latin motto on the left translates as ‘life is short but art endures’. The snuffed-out candle is a literal allusion to death. The globe and the book with a description of the world indicate pursuits of knowledge and discovery. The globe shows the Pacific Ocean, an area Europe was actively colonising at the time. This may allude to the transient or limited nature of imperial ambitions.

Gallery label, July 2024

Peter Borseller, Portrait of Katherine Hoby  c.1670

Katherine Hoby must have been at least in her sixties when she sat for this painting. Her finely detailed hand and the sheen and texture of her clothes are characteristic of Peter Borseller’s distinctive style. Hoby’s clothes, which incorporate expensive silk and fashionable ribbons, identify her as a wealthy woman of high social position. Borseller was a Dutch artist who was active in England from 1664 but left in around 1679, possibly due to religious persecution as a Roman Catholic.

Gallery label, March 2025

Sir Godfrey Kneller, John Smith, Speaker of the House of Commons  c.1707–8

John Smith (c.1655–1725) was an eminent Whig politician. He was re-elected as Speaker of the House of Commons in 1707. That year he helped pass laws that forged the union of England and Scotland, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Godfrey Kneller shows him in his Speaker’s robes, the mace and chair behind him, holding a scroll inscribed ‘The Union Act’. German-born, Kneller was the most successful and prolific portraitist of his day. Principal Painter from 1688, he was made 1st Baronet in 1715.

Gallery label, July 2024

John James Baker, The Whig Junto  1710

This portrait shows the leaders of the political Whig party. Edward Russell, the first Earl of Orford (standing on the right) commissioned the picture. A Black boy stands on the left of the gathered guests. We don’t know his identity, or even if he was a real person. The artist likely included them in the portrait to show the wealth, status and power of the white sitters. Prints of Roman victories emphasise Britain’s military successes and a desire for empire building. The globe may refer to British interest in accessing new trading routes.

Gallery label, July 2024

Mary Beale, Charles Beale  c.1680–5

Mary Beale was the first British professional woman artist with a successful career as a portrait painter. This portrait is of her husband, Charles. He kept a series of notebooks which tell of his affectionate support of his wife and his pride in her achievement. Charles managed Mary’s studio, which from 1671 was in Pall Mall, central London. He would buy the materials, prepare canvases and mix pigments. Mary would often use her family as models and painted Charles on several occasions.

Gallery label, July 2024

Mary Beale, Anne Sotheby  1676–7

This oil on canvas portrait by Mary Beale depicts Anne Sotheby, nee Robinson, the young wife of the art collector James Sotheby (1656–1720), whom she married in 1674. The portrait was commissioned by her husband and is listed in documents of his collection as showing her ‘in her 20th year’. She is shown demurely seated in a landscape, dressed in a gold silk gown and a blue cloak that is pinned at her shoulder with a diamond brooch. Beale has taken the pose from a portrait type by the leading court artist of the day, Peter Lely (1618–1680). It follows almost exactly Lely’s portrait of Lady Essex Finch of 1675 (The Huntington, San Marino, California) but with slight differences to the tree under which Anne sits, and the vista beyond.

Nils Norman, Sparkles of Glory  2022

Anne Killigrew, A Lady as Venus, Mourning Adonis  c.1682–5

Here, Venus, the classical goddess of love, sits at the foot of the monument to her dead lover, Adonis. The red anemone flower growing at her feet was said to have sprouted from his blood. Anne Killigrew is one of a few 17th-century British women artists for whom we can identify a number of works. Rather than working professionally, she most likely painted privately for friends and family. She also wrote poems, which shared similar mythological themes to her paintings. Killigrew died aged 25 of smallpox.

Gallery label, January 2025

William Dobson, Endymion Porter  c.1642–5

Endymion Porter was a favourite courtier of Charles I, for whom he bought works of art. He is shown here as a huntsman with his kill, a possible reference to the ongoing Civil War. His patronage of the arts is indicated by the statue of Apollo and the classical frieze he is leaning on. Dobson painted this portrait at the exiled court of Charles in Oxford. The pose is taken from a portrait of the Roman Emperor Vespasian by Titian, which was then in Charles I’s collection. Porter was later forced into exile in France.

Gallery label, July 2024

John Riley, James Sotheby  c.1690

James Sotheby was the son of a wealthy haberdashery merchant. He lived in Hatton Garden, London, but owned various properties, including a house in Hackney (then a country village east of London) and country estate at Sewardstone, Essex. He was a noted collector of books, manuscripts, paintings and miniatures. In 1674 he married Anne Robinson, a rich heiress. Her godfather was Sir Nicholas Crispe, who led English trade with west Africa, which included the trafficking of enslaved people. John Riley became the leading painter to the king after the death of Peter Lely in 1680.

Gallery label, July 2024

Sir Peter Lely, Two Ladies of the Lake Family  c.1660

This picture is associated with the Lake family, who lived in Cannons House and estate in Middlesex. Portraits of women by Lely, like this one, tend to conform to the standards of ideal beauty which were current at court. The artist was more concerned with asserting a sense of glamour and sophistication than conveying individual personalities. The woman on the left is playing a French-made guitar, the latest fashion to arrive from Paris. Lely was the leading portrait painter of his generation, Principal Painter to Charles II.

Gallery label, July 2024

John Michael Wright, Sir Neil O’Neill  1680

Both Sir Neil O’Neill and John Michael Wright were Roman Catholics. As a result of anti-Catholic legislation, Wright was exiled from London to Dublin in 1679, where this work was painted. Sir Neil is shown in the richly ornamented costume of an Irish chieftain. Beside him is an Irish wolfhound, a valuable breed of dog whose export from Ireland was forbidden. At his feet is a rare suit of Japanese armour. This may symbolise triumph over persecutors of Catholicism. The Japanese were notorious for their persecution of the Catholic missionaries in Japan at this time.

Gallery label, July 2024

Joan Carlile, Portrait of an Unknown Lady  1650–5

The woman depicted here wears a striking white dress and glittering shawl which shine bright against the softness of the landscape behind her. Of the portraits known by Joan Carlile, many show women standing in the same white satin dress – clearly a successful formula that she repeated for several clients. Carlile was one of the earliest woman artists to work professionally in oil painting in Britain. In 1653, she moved to Covent Garden, the centre of London’s artistic community, to establish a commercial portrait business. Presumably, it was a decision driven by financial necessity.

Gallery label, January 2025

Henry Anderton, Mountain Landscape with Dancing Shepherd  c.1650–60

This is one of the earliest known oil paintings of a landscape by a British artist. We know the artist had recently returned from a few years studying in Rome, where he may have been influenced by classical art. Henry Anderton was trained as an artist by Robert Streater, who was later Serjeant Painter to King Charles II. As well as landscapes, Anderton painted still-lifes and portraits. He became one of the most successful portrait painters of his time, though few of his works are known today.

Gallery label, July 2024

Sir James Thornhill, The Apotheosis of Romulus: Sketch for a Ceiling Decoration, Possibly for Hewell Grange, Worcestershire  c.1710

This is probably part of a decorative scheme for Hewell Grange, the seat of the Earl of Plymouth. The story of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, was a favourite subject for wealthy stately-home owners. They prided themselves on their classical learning, seeing parallels between 18th-century Britain and the rise of the Roman Empire. As the only successful British decorative painter, James Thornhill catered wholeheartedly for this taste. He played on national pride in an effort to beat competition from foreign-born artists.

Gallery label, July 2024

Edward Collier, A Trompe l’Oeil of Newspapers, Letters and Writing Implements on a Wooden Board  c.1699

Edward Coller was noted for his ‘trompe l’oeil’ pictures, meaning to ‘trick the eye’. They create the illusion of real, graspable objects. The letter rack with newspapers, writing implements, seals and combs was one of Collier’s favourite subjects. He painted many variations of it with similar objects slightly differently arranged. The picture is undated but a clue is given by the folded London newspaper at the top, which is dated ‘Monday, May 15’. The only likely Monday to fall on this date was in 1699.

Gallery label, August 2024

Jan Siberechts, Landscape with Rainbow, Henley-on-Thames  c.1690

Jan Siberechts may have produced this painting for a landowner to display his ownership and wealth. It also shows an interest in nature and the effects of the weather. The figures to the left, pulling the barge along the River Thames, remind us that this is a working landscape, and that waterways were vital for the transportation of food and goods to and from urban centres. Siberechts specialised in ‘birds-eye’ views of the landscape, often centred on an important country house.

Gallery label, July 2024

Francis Barlow, Monkeys and Dogs Playing  1661

Francis Barlow is the earliest known British-born animal painter. During his lifetime animal paintings were still largely associated with decorative arts and the interior design of houses. This painting, like many animal pictures, was probably produced to hang over a door. The spaniels shown here may be portraits of particular dogs, so the painting may have been commissioned by their owner. Wealthy British families also kept non-native animals, which they perceived as status symbols. The brown or tufted capuchin monkeys, from South America, may be intended to highlight the patron’s cultivated affluence.

Gallery label, July 2024

William Dobson, Portrait of the Artist’s Wife  c.1635–40

Judith Sanders’s direct gaze is fixed on her husband as he paints her. It is a domestic, informal image painted around the time of their marriage in December 1637. The portrait is one of William Dobson’s earliest known works and probably the result of a single sitting. He was active during the English Civil War (1642–51) in London and Oxford, and as Principal Painter to Charles I. He is considered by many to be the finest artist born in Britain of his generation.

Gallery label, January 2025