Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this piece to the Before 1700 period.
The painting is within its original fine quality hand-carved and gilt frame.
The sitter has been identified as Martha Lovelace, 8th Baroness Wentworth (1667–1745) daughter and heiress of MP and bon viveur John Lovelace, 3rd Baron Lovelace of Hurley, and Martha Pye, living at Ladye Place, Hurley.
She became the second wife of Henry Johnson, MP, in 1692. They lived at The Gate House, Blackwall, Middlesex.
Martha was heiress to some of her father's property in Berkshire. She inherited Water Eaton in Oxfordshire and Toddington in Bedfordshire through her grandmother, Anne Lovelace (7th Baroness Wentworth; 1623–1697), and the Bradenham estate in Buckinghamshire through her maternal grandfather, Sir Edmund Pye, 1st Baronet.
She died childless in 1745.
SIR GODFREY KNELLER (1646-1723) was the most distinguished painter of baroque portraits in England.
Born in Lubeck, he trained with Bol and Rembrandt, coming to London in 1676.
By 1679 he had painted the King and remained the most famous and successful portrait painter in England until his death.
In 1688 he was made Principal Painter to the King and was knighted in 1692 and a made a baronet in 1715.
His work was greatly in demand and so he maintained a large and busy studio, with many assistants who painted in his style. A number of these men went on to become established portraitists in their own right.
SIZE: 38 x 32.75 inches including the frame.
Verso: label with old copperplate script "Mrs. Henry Johnson of ……… "
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 Martha Lovelace, Baroness Wentworth C.1692; Studio of Kneller.
