Michael Dahl, 1659 - 1743 Portrait of Anne Byerley of Middridge Grange and Goldsborough Hall Circa 1645-

Michael Dahl, 1659 - 1743

Portrait of Anne Byerley of Middridge Grange and Goldsborough Hall Circa 1645-

Signed/Inscribed:

"MRS BYERLEY MOTHER TO COL BYERLEY"

oil on canvas

127 x 102 cm. (50 x 40 in.)

Anne was the younger daughter of Sir Richard Hutton of Goldsborough Hall & Margaret Wentworth . She married Col. Anthony Byerley of Middridge Grange, (d.1667) a Royalist who commanded a regiment which was garrisoned in the house with him and his family. This body of men built up a fine reputation for their indomitable spirit, earning the label of Byerley’s Bulldogs. They served under the Marquess of Newcastle during hostilities, and are known to have fought in the Siege of York and the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644. Following the Restoration in 1660, Col. Byerley was awarded the Order of the Royal Oak for his feisty efforts. It is said that a great underground tunnel exists in the grounds of the estate, which could well date to this troubled time – indeed, King Charles I himself was supposed to have taken refuge for a time at the Grange during the war.

Anthony and Anne's Byerley’s fourth son, Robert, was born in 1660. At the age of 14 he found himself in charge of the Middridge Grange estate after the death of his father and his three older brothers. Then, in 1685, he became an MP; and a year later found himself embroiled in the Battle of Buda as part of the Holy League’s campaign against the Turks. It was during this time that he gained possession of his famous Arabian horse, which came to be known as the ‘Byerley Turk’. He took it home with him and it lived with the family at Middridge Grange, before following Robert to his new home at Goldsborough, near Knaresborough, in the mid 1690s. During its stay at Middridge, the horse served as Robert Byerley’s charger during his military forays – including the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. But what was so special about the Byerley Turk was that it was the earliest of the three founding stallions of the entire modern thoroughbred horse racing stock (the other two being the Godolphin Arabian and the Darley Arabian)… Robert married 1692 his cousin and ward Mary 1672-1727 sole heiress daughter of Elizabeth heiress of Sir Richard Hutton by Hon. Philip Wharton of Edlington. Robert married his cousin, Mary Wharton, and served as Member of Parliament representing both County Durham and Knaresborough. Before they married, In November 1690 Mary Wharton was kidnapped when travelling with her aunt, by Captain James Campbell, younger brother of Archibald Campbell, tenth earl of Argyll. Campbell forced her into marriage, apparently to acquire her inheritance. Mary was set free within 2 days, but in August 1691 she gave birth to a son named Thomas Wharton, son of James Campbell. Her marriage to Campbell was annulled by act of parliament in December 1691 and Robert and Mary married on 17 March 1692

Artist Biography

Michael Dahl, (1659–1743), portrait painter, was born on 29 September 1659 in Stockholm, Sweden. Nothing of his father is known. His mother, Catarina, had a lengthy widowhood in difficult circumstances, as is recorded in a letter from Dahl, written in Rome and dated 6 October 1687, in which he also refers to a sister. George Vertue—who knew Dahl during his English career—was told by the painter's pupil Hans Hysing that Dahl was the pupil in Stockholm of drawing-master Martin Hannibal (c.1674–c.1676) and then of the painter David Klöker Ehrenstrahl.

On 30 July 1682 Dahl was issued with a passport and he travelled to England, probably in anticipation of filling the vacuum created by the death of the dominant English portrait painter, Peter Lely. Vertue claimed that Dahl was 'brought from Stockholm to England by Mr. Souters', information that he was given by 'J. Sowter of Exeter'; Vertue added that 'Mr. White [Robert White 1645–1703 the engraver] had 30 pounds of