Cornelis Schut III (Antwerp 1629-1685 Seville)
Lot 164 PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN (LOTS 164, 206 & 225)

Cornelis Schut III (Antwerp 1629-1685 Seville)

Portrait of a lady, half-length, in a richly embroidered lace dress with red sleeves, gold earrings, holding a pearled salver with jasmine flowers, in a sculpted cartouche

Closed9 July 2014

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GBP 22,500

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Cornelis Schut III (Antwerp 1629-1685 Seville)

Portrait of a lady, half-length, in a richly embroidered lace dress with red sleeves, gold earrings, holding a pearled salver with jasmine flowers, in a sculpted cartouche
signed, dated and inscribed 'Cornelis Schutt. Pinc. / et. f. año de 1682. en / Sevilla. (lower left, on the sculpted cartouche); and inscribed 'ÆTATIS. SVÆ. / AN.14. MEN. 2.' (centre right, on the plinth)
oil on canvas
49¾ x 38 7/8 in. (126.3 x 98.8 cm.)

Du Pré Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon (1777-1839), and by descent to,
James, 4th Earl of Caledon, K.P. (1846-1884), 5 Carlton House Terrace, London.
with Agnew's, London, where acquired by the following,
Sir Francis Watson, K.C.V.O. (1907-1992), by August 1969, and by inheritance to the present owner.

Specialist note

When the great conoisseur Gustav Waagen saw the picture in 1856, he described it as 'Portrait of a lady of pretty features, and in a rich dress.' He added 'This hangs more favourably [than its pendant, described as 'Portrait of a man in an oval']. It is of very transparent colouring, but in my opinion, too empty in the forms and too smooth in touch for Murillo. It shows, however, a good Spanish painter, but one unknown to me.' (loc. cit.)

The collection at 5 Carlton House Terrace was mainly formed by Du Pré Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon (1777-1839), in the beginning of the nineteenth century. By 1856, the present picture was hanging in the Drawing Room alongside van Dyck's celebrated full-length Portrait of a lady with her daughter, then identified as the Marchesa Spinola, which is now in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio.