Manner of Sir Anthony van Dyck 1599-1641

three-quarter length, standing in a landscape, wearing a red slashed doublet

The sitter was the son of Sir William Dormer and his wife Alice Molyneux. Educated at Eton and Exeter College, Oxford, he was heir to the substantial estates of his grandfather, Sir Peter Dormer. In 1625 he married Anna Sophia Herbert, daughter of his gaurdian Phillip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke. After the wedding he set out on a grand tour which included not only visits to Spain, France and Italy but also to Turkey and the Middle East. In 1628 he was made Earl of Carnarvon. He owned Ascott near Wing in Buckinghamshire, and when young he devoted himself to country pursuits such as hunting and hawking. In the Civil War he was an active Royalist, fighting with distinction at Edgehill. He was killed at the first battle of Newbury.