Oil on canvas in an 18th century frame.The sitter has traditionally been identified by an inscription on the back of the canvas ''Mrs. Bridget Reade''; this inscription is now covered by a relining which occurred in 2010.Bridget Croft was the eldest daughter of Sir Charles Crofts of Bardwell; she married, at Bardwell church, Sir Thomas Reade of Wrangle, Lincolnshire.The Reades had seven children. One of them, Sir Charles Crofts Read of Bardwell, was born 25 July 1652, knighted at Whitehall on 26 September 1674, and died on 17 October 1690, and was buried at Bardwell.Bridget''s memorial, showing her as an older woman, can be seen below.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: 34 x 28.25 inches inc. frame.PROVENANCE: from an Oxfordshire country house.Our thanks to Adam Buskiakiewicz, art historian, for his invaluable help with the attribution.Height is 86cm (33.9inches)
Width is 72.5cm (28.5inches)
Depth is 5.5cm (2.2inches)