Johnson's portraits are often within a feigned oval, as is this one.
LADY MARGARET STEWART (STUART), later LADY MARGARET MENNES, was the daughter of John Stewart, 1st and last Earl of Carrick and Lady Elizabeth Howard, Maid of Honour to Queen Elizabeth I. John Stewart was the younger son of Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney, illegitimate son of King James I of Scotland and half-brother to Mary Queen of Scots.
Lady Margaret married Sir Matthew Mennes, bearing him a daughter, also Margaret, in c.1624.
This daughter married Sir John Heath and their daughter, another Margaret, married George Verney, 12th Baron Willoughby de Broke.
CORNELIUS JOHNSON (also known as Jansen or Jonson Van Ceulen) 1593-1661 was born in London, the son of Flemish emigres.
Johnson is the most satisfying and 'English' of the portraitists working in England in the 1620s and 30s. He has a fine technique with a restrained and introspective style, with careful attention to the costume details.
His accurate portraits are never flattering but a sober and objective portrayal of his usual sitters: the gentry and lesser nobility. His style is easily identified by its coolness and restraint.
In 1632 he was made Painter to the King, but his wife's fears of the approaching Civil War caused him to retire to Holland in 1643 where he called himself Jonson van Ceulen.
SIZE: 29 x 24 inches (panel)
35 x 30 inches (frame)
PROVENANCE: Verso; 2 old remover/storers labels, both of Leamington Spa. One inscribed "No.245. Drawing Room. Customer's name: Ld. de Brooke".
Sotheby's chalk inscription "10.7.85".
It seems the portrait descended through the Willoughby de Broke family until the death of the 20th Baron in 1985 when it was sold at Sotheby's, 17 July. lot 21.
Inscribed upper left and right, also on a plaque on the frame, with an incorrect attribution to Honthorst.
Roy and nadine precious: specialists in portraiture from the 16th to the 20th century. Established in 1972.
You can view the stock and full dealer information on the Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art Profile Page
Sold....portrait of Lady Margaret Mennes (Born Stewart) C.1620; Attributed to Cornelius Johnson
