He looks out steadfastly, holding his baton of command of high rank and wears the sash of an officer.
The artist subtly illuminates the face and shows a great sweep of light across the armour which flows round to highlight the hand resting on the hilt of Sir Michael's sword, thus giving it emphasis. The point is made that is not just a portrait of a gentleman painted in armour to show his wealth, as was fashionable... this is an insightful portrait of an experienced soldier used to command and warfare.
SIR MICHAEL EARNLEY (ERNLY, ERNLE) 1599(?) - 1645.
The senior line of the Ernle family had a seat at Whetham House, Calne, Wiltshire.
A member of the Whetham line, Sir Michael Ernle, uncle to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir John Ernle, was a royalist commander during the English Civil War. In 1641 he held Connaught Castle for the King during a siege by Parliamentary forces. Later he captured Hawarden Castle in December 1643.
His end is unclear, John Aubrey's 'Natural History of Wiltshire' has it that he was killed in the market place.
But another account says that Earnley rose from his sickbed to fight and, refusing to yield to the Parliamentary soldiers, was cut down.
UPDATE: courtesy of Jonathan Worton, research student at the University of Chester, studying the English Civil Wars in and around his home county of Shropshire, the region where Sir Michael campaigned and ultimately died:-
"Aubrey, in his Wiltshire history, was wrong on Ernley's death - both the cause and date (as also was the Royalist historian Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon). By early 1644, Ernley appears to have been suffering from consumption, or tuberculosis. He probably acquired this on campaign in Ireland, 1642-43, and the condition effected his ability to command in the field. Clarendon, in his history, has the bed-ridden Ernley killed in his nightshirt by Parliamentarian troops when they took Shrewsbury in the early hours of 22 February 1645. However, a Parliamentarian officer wrote that Ernley helped to lead the Royalist defence, and was wounded in the fighting and beaten to the ground. Given the time lapse until his demise, it appears it was a combination of chronic illness and the effect of this wounding which finally did for him."
ADRIAEN HANNEMAN (c. 1603 - 1671) was a Dutch Golden Age painter best-known today for his court portraits of the British and Dutch nobility, his style was strongly influenced by his contemporary, Sir Anthony Van Dyck.
According to some sources, he may have worked in the studio of Van Dyke in London. Later, in the Hague, he painted several English Royalists who had gone into exile in the Netherlands after the English Civil War.
SIZE: 50 x 42 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE:
By descent to Sir Francis Burdett, 7th Baronet, of Ramsbury Manor, Wiltshire The Burdetts were at Ramsbury from 1800 to 1951 when Sir Francis died.
This painting was sold at Sotheby's Ramsbury Manor sale of 5 February 1953, lot 2.
American private collection
Sale, Sotheby's New York, 7 December 1985, lot 6.
American private collection until 2012.
VERSO: Old handwritten label:-"Sir Michael Ernle Bart. Governor of Shrewsbury Castle, in reign of Charles Ist. Sir A. Vandyke".
Another older copperplate script label:- "Sir Michael Ernle, Knight Banneret By Sir Anthony Van Dyke".
Roy and nadine precious: specialists in portraiture from the 16th to the 20th century. Established in 1972.
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Sold....portrait of Sir Michael Earnley (Ernle) C.1640; Attributed to Adriaen Hanneman
