A very sensitive and perceptive portrait beautifully executed in every way.
He was a Royalist and a Catholic and his estates were sequestered by Parliament during the Civil War.
During his exile abroad, when he stayed at Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp, he studied agricultural practices of the Low Countries and wrote a discourse on husbandry. Subsequently he introduced to Surrey a scheme whereby rivers and canals became navigable by means of locks and he attempted to make the Wey navigable from Guildford to its junction with the Thames at Weybridge.
The scheme was finally completed in 1653 after his death. He also introduced agricultural improvements, notably the cultivation of rich crops of hay from irrigated meadows and a new scheme of rotation founded on the cultivation of clover, flax and turnips.
He married Grace, daughter of John Harper of Cheshunt, who died in February 1669. They had seven sons and two daughters.
His ancestor, Francis Weston, was implicated in the fall of Anne Boleyn, convicted of adultery with the Queen and executed in 1536.
Richard's father, Sir Henry, entertained Queen Elizabeth twice at Sutton Place; the mansion was built by Sir Richard Weston in the 1520s and 30s probably by the Hampton Court builders.
It is reputed that King Henry VIII met Anne Boleyn at Sutton and the house remained in Weston ownership until the 19th century.
The late John Paul Getty lived and died in this renaissance house; prior to his ownership the press baron Lord Northcliffe lived there.
In 1986 Sutton Place was purchased by the American billionaire Frederich Koch as a home for his art collection; the house and estate are now for sale.
CORNELIUS DE NEVE, also known as Leneve, (c.1594-1678, painting from c. 1612). Born in Antwerp, he was a portrait painter of Netherlands stock living in England. It is thought he trained in Holland under Miereveld, but working in London by 1627. His later style has some connection with Thomas de Critz, his stepfather.
The portrait of Sir Richard is typical of his style and quality; he emphasises the sitter by placing him before a neutral background and also illuminates the sitter's face to give great depth to the work.
He also revelled in painting detail; here the sitter's features and costume are exceptionally well observed, especially the subtle detailing to the silk doublet.
SIZE: 37.75 x 32.5 inches inc. frame
PROVENANCE: Sutton Place, Surrey.
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Sold.....portrait of Sir Richard Weston, C. 1630; Attributed to Cornelius De Neve
