Circle of William Scrots

Samuel Day (1757-1806), Hinton House, Hinton Charterhouse, Somerset;
By descent to Mary, his wife, who died in 1846 leaving Hinton House to Thomas Jones (1808-1848);
By descent to Edward Talbot Day Foxcroft (1837-1911), his son;
Thence by descent to the present owner.

Previously on loan to Leeds Castle, Kent.

Rev. J. Nightingale, The Beauties of England and Wales, London 1813, part I, vol. XIII, p. 456 (as 'by Holbein');
Hinton Household Inventory Entailed by the Will of the late Thomas Jones Esq., unpublished MS., 23-28 August 1848, p. 2 (as 'Edward 4^th in a carved frame 37 inches by 29 in rich regal robes' - £45);
O. Millar, The Tudor, Stuart and Early Georgian Pictures in the Collection of her Majesty the Queen, London 1963, text vol., p. 66, under no. 49.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Condition The artist's panel has been cradled and this has successfully secured the vertical joins in the panel and no further structural intervention is required. Paint Surface The paint surface has a reasonably even varnish layer with some surface dust and some slight abrasions in the varnish most notably on the sitter's left sleeve. Revarnishing would therefore be beneficial to ensure a more even surface coating. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows a number of retouchings. These would appear to have been carefully applied and many cover what I assume are small paint losses. The most significant of these reotuchings are: 1) vertical lines of inpainting covering two vertical joins in the panel which are approximately 22 cm from the left vertical framing edge and 24 cm from the right vertical framing edge, 2) areas of inpainting on the sitter's face which are primarily on his left cheek and jaw with one larger retouching above his left eye going into his hair. This measures approximately 4 x 1 cm and it would seem that a large part of the sitter's hair has been retouched. 3) Two vertical areas of retouching measuring approximately 4 x 0.5 cm and 3 x 0.5 cm in the white feathers attached to the sitter's cap, and 4) the end of several of the sitter's fingers which have been retouched and there are also significant retouchings on his white trousers. A number of other scattered retouchings are visible under ultra-violet light, particularly in the finer detail of the sitter's costume. It should be noted that the details of the sitter's face appear well-preserved as do the more thickly painted details of the jewelry and costume. Summary The painting is therefore in stable condition having clearly been carefully and skillfully retouched and the only work that might be required is revarnishing.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

The present work is an exceptionally rare seated, three-quarter length variant of perhaps the most important official portrait of Edward VI. Traditionally associated with William Scrots¹, who came to England in 1545 and succeeded Holbein as King's Painter, it depicts the young King wearing ermine robes and a richly bejewelled doublet, with the Order of St. George, seated on a throne holding a bible, presumably a reference to his role as Defender of the Faith and head of the Church of England. The type is thought to have originated in 1550, when marriage negotiations were underway between the King and the eldest daughter of Henry II of France. Good full length versions are at Hampton Court (Royal Collection), the Musée du Louvre, Paris, and in the Museum at Roanne, the latter of which is traditionally stated to have been given by the King to the Maréchal de St. André, who was sent to London in July 1551 to confer upon the King the Order of St. Michael.

King Edward VI, the only son of King Henry VIII by his third wife, Jane Seymour, succeeded to the throne on the death of his father in 1547, when only nine years old. The longed for male heir to the Tudor dynasty, Edward's reign was sadly brief, and he was only fifteen when he died of consumption in 1553. Despite this, and despite his youth, he displayed a deep interest in religious policy, and successfully ensured the continuation and consolidation of the English Reformation, for which he was praised by contemporary European Protestants, and which his sister, the Catholic Mary, who succeeded his as Queen of England, was unable to reverse.

The portrait was first recorded in the collection of Samuel Day (1757-1806), at Hinton Charterhouse, in Somerset. In 1786 Samuel married Mary Jacob, who inherited Hinton Charterhouse from her uncle, John Harding, High Sheriff of Somerset, whose father, also John, had bought the house in 1700. Originally part of the Carthusian Monastery which stood nearby, the house, also known as The Grange, is first recorded in Leland's account to Sir Walter Hungerford (1574-1589). Then part of the vast Hungerford estates, in which it remained for much of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it was at one stage the home of Prince Henry Stuart, and his brother Charles, later King Charles I.

A copy of the dendrochronology report on this painting is available for viewing upon request.

1. The attribution of the Hampton Court painting to Scrots was confirmed with almost complete certainty in 1951 by Dr Auerbach (see E. Auerbach, 'Holbein's Followers in England', Burlington Magazine, XCIII, 1951, pp. 45-50).