Portrait of Anne Wodehouse C.1680; Circle of Willem Wissing (1656-1687)

Anne Wodehouse (c.1645-1685) was the second wife of Edmund Wodehouse (1639-1727) who was Colonel of the Militia in 1696. The couple lived at Lexham Manor in Norfolk. The Wodehouse family seat was at Kimberley Hall Norfolk (see photo). The Wodehouse family had owned land in Kimberley since the 1370s and in c.1400 John Wodehouse built Wodehouse Tower at the site of the later Kimberley Hall. John's son John Wodehouse Esq. distinguished himself in the Battle of Agincourt and was granted large estates by Henry V as a reward. They were very prominent in Norfolk affairs from the 16th century and in 1611 received a baronetcy. In 1866 the 3rd Lord Wodehouse, the Liberal politician and diarist, was created an earl.

Edmund was the second son of Sir Philip Wodehouse, 3rd Baronet (1608–1681). Anne and Edmund did not have children but Edmund had two sons (Philip, buried at Kimberley in 1703 and John buried at Lexham in 1718) and two daugters (Lucy and Mercy) with his first wife Mercy (d.1673). Anne’s tomb contains the following epitaph: “Here lyeth Anne Wife of Edmund Wodehouse of East-Lexham Esq. the only Child of John Anguish of Great-Mekmi Esq. an obedient Daughter, tenderly loving Wife and Mother, and a discreet Mistress, died 28 July 1685”. Edmund died aged 88 and is buried between his two wives at the family estate of Kimberely Norfolk.

Seated three quarter length in a landscape, the sitter is holding her veil in her right hand; she is wearing an azure mantle and a russet dress and holding a spray of blossom. A stately home is visible in the background beyond a lake and cascade. This painting abounds with ingenious flourishes and demonstrations of the painter's skill. A remarkable care is exercised, for example, in the painting of the sitter's hands, the white lace, and the treatment of the utterly sumptuous drapery.

The hairstyle was known as the hurluberlu and first appeared c.1671. In the celebrated letters of Madame de Sévigné she accounted “Now just imagine the hair parted peasant fashion to within two inches of the back roll; the hair each side is cut in layers and made into round loose curls which hang about an inch below the ear; it looks very young and pretty - two bouquets of hair on each side... a large curl on top which sometimes falls down the neck.”

Presented in an antique carved and gilt frame.

Willem Wissing was a Dutch artist who came to London in 1676. He studied with Sir Peter Lely and effectively took over his business for the seven years between Lely’s death in 1680 and his own in 1687 and this was a period when he had very important aristrocratic patrons. He excelled at portraiture, having had only one real rival in England, Sir Godfrey Kneller, and was commissioned by the King to paint Mary II. Wissing’s graceful style and his modelling and pose were often replicated and varied, as was the studio practice at the time.

Provenance: By descent through the Wodehouse family of Kimberley Norfolk to Lady Wodehouse when sold at Christies London 19 February 1954 (Catalogued as Lely: Portrait of a Lady in yellow décolleté dress and blue scarf, Holding a spray of blossom). After the World War, the 4th Earl of Kimberley began disposing of the estate at a record rate. In 1958 he sold historic Kimberley Hall and its 4,250 acres for over £200,000. "All I could think about was getting a new Aston Martin." Then he sold off pictures and a dairy farm near Falmouth, and urban property within it. This was followed by disposal of the 25 lordships of the manor attached to his former family estate in Norfolk, for over £100,000. Then came the sale of a further 26 Domesday manors. "These titles are worth nothing to me," he said. "I might just as well have the money to put into my present home."

Notes: A label on the reverse for “carver, gilder, upholsterer, cabinet and chair maker” W. Boswell

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