Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this piece to the Before 1700 period.
This 'portrait de cabinet', probably painted at the time of Catherine's marriage, is a characteristic example of the international baroque style of which Netscher was a prime proponent; it elegantly exemplifies the artist's interest in depicting the luxurious.
(A 'portrait de cabinet' was a painting for a small intimate room known as a cabinet)
CATHERINE PURCELL (c.1657-1699) was the daughter of John Purcell; she married Sir Godfrey Copley, 2nd Bt., son of Sir Godfrey Copley, 1st Bt. and Eleanor Walmesley in 1681.
They had a daughter, also called Catherine.
He had succeeded to the title of 2nd Baronet Copley of Sprotborough, Yorkshire in 1677/8 and built a new mansion house at Sprotborough. He was an M.P. and a Fellow of the Royal Society and founder of the Copley Medal. On his death his baronetcy became extinct.
The great mansion of Sprotborough Hall , near Doncaster (see image 7) was demolished in 1923. The family had lost three sons in the First World War...death duties were crippling and the industrial sprawl of Doncaster grew closer.
CASPAR NETSCHER(1639-84) was a Dutch portraitist of Holland's Golden Age of painting. In his early career at The Hague, where he settled in 1651, he also painted genre and religious scenes; but from c.1670 onwards he devoted himself exclusively to the portrait, often of Court members in The Hague, earning a considerable fortune. His reputation was so highly regarded that he was invited to England by King Charles II.
Netscher worked elegantly and with a slight French influence, his paintings exquisitely finished and influencing Dutch portraiture into the 18th century.
SIZE: 19.75 x 17.25 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE:
By descent in the family to
Capt. Rt. Hon. Robert Godfrey Wolesley Bewicke-Copley, 5th Baron Cromwell, M.C., D.S.O, of Sprotborough Hall, Yorkshire.
Christie's, London, 20 November 1925, lot 133.
English Private Collection
Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this piece to the Before 1700 period.
Roy and nadine precious: specialists in portraiture from the 16th to the 20th century. Established in 1972.
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Portrait of Catherine, Lady Copley C.1680; Circle of Caspar Netscher.
