ENGLISH SCHOOL, 18TH CENTURY | PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN, PROBABLY CAPTAIN JOSEPH POOLE OF SYKEHOUSE, WEARING ARMOR AND STANDING IN A LANDSCAPE

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 1 June 1928, lot 77 (as A. Hanneman);

With M. Grieve Co., New York;

From whom acquired by John W. Higgins, 31 May 1929;

By whom given to the Higgins Armory on 15 December 1931;

Collection transfer to the Worcester Art Museum, January 2014 (2014.145, as Attributed to Adriaen Hanneman).

The young man clad in armor in this impressive portrait stands in a landscape gesturing towards a fortress in the background that is identifiable as Pontefract Castle in West Yorkshire. It was the site of a series of famous sieges during the English Civil War of the 17th century. The sitter has traditionally been identified as “Captain Poole” and is likely to be Captain Joseph Poole Esq. of Sykehouse ( d. 1704), who was a captain in the Parliamentary army and involved in the siege of Pontefract Castle. He wears armor loosely based on English Greenwich armor of the early 17th century. This portrait and the following lot were in the collection of the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, MA, founded by John Woodman Higgins (1874-1961). Opened in 1931, it displayed his vast collection of arms and armor in a building specifically constructed for that purpose. The collection was transferred and integrated into the Worcester Art Museum in 2014.