Mansion House Antiques & Fine Art has dated this piece to the 19th Century.
He was purported to be an extremely attractive fellow.
George Villiers was born in Leicestershire on 28th August 1592, the second son of Sir George Villiers. He became a favourite and suspected lover of James I of England, James VI of Scotland and replaced his previous favourite Robert Carr, who after his marriage into the Howard family was accused of murder along with his wife and imprisoned in the Tower. After becoming master of the horse, in 1917, James knighted George Villiers, created him lst Duke of Buckingham, gave him crown lands and £1,000 a year. After James' death in 1925 and the accession of Charles I, George Villiers was stabbed to death in the Greyhound pub in Portsmouth on 23rd August 1928.
Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen also Cornelius Jonson van Ceulen, Cornelius Johnson, Cornelis Jansz. van Ceulen and many other variants, including C. Jansen, C. Janssen, (bapt. 14 October 1593 – bur. 5 August 1661) was an English painter of portraits of Dutch or Flemish parentage. He was active in England, at least from 1618 to 1643. He moved to Middelburg in the Netherlands in 1643. Between 1646 and 1652 he lived in Amsterdam, before settling in Utrecht, where he was buried.
Janssens painted many portraits of emerging new English gentry. His early portraits were panel paintings with "fictive" oval frames. His style varied considerably over his career, and he was able to assimilate new influences into his own style without any discordant effect. He was particularly accurate and detailed in depiction of clothing.
We were unable to find a picture of the portrait that hangs at Hampton Court, until we put 'George Villiers' into google images and looked through all the portraits and further down we found a picture of the original from a reproduction in a history book.
From the inscription on the back of the grey artists' board, it would appear that the copy of this portrait was executed by an unknown artist, or purchased from an unknown artist and given as a gift to a Miss K. Sandy’s of Weston Green, Thames Ditton, a small village on the banks of the Thames, just across the river from Hampton Court Palace. Weston green is now a separate entity from Thames Ditton and comes under Esher.
After exhaustive investigation on the Census records, we can state that there were two branches of the Sandy’s family in Thames Ditton in the 19th/early 20th Century, but can find no Miss K. We have, however, found a Miss Edith Katherine Sandy’s, born 29th June, 1881, who lived at Winterdown Lodge, Weston Green and a Miss Mary K. Sandys, born 1832, who lived at Giggs Hill, Thames Ditton. The spelling of Miss in the inscription is using the long s for the first s of the word, and, although its use in printing died out earlier, its use in handwriting continued well into the second half of the 19th Century.
The portrait is framed in a rather beautiful pierced Florentine gilt frame, which may be the original. It will be supplied wired and ready to hang.
MEASUREMENTS ( Including Frame )
Height 15 Inches ( 38.1 cm )
Width. 13 Inches ( 33 cm )
MEDIUM: Oils on prepared artists' board
CONDITION
Extremely good, clean with no losses or craquelure. The frame is in very good condition, with the odd repair and slight cracking, commensurate with age.
DELIVERY
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Mansion House Antiques & Fine Art has dated this piece to the 19th Century.
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Reserved 1st Duke of Buckingham After Cornelius Jansen Fine Oil Portrait Painting
