Circle of Steven van der Meulen fl.1543-1568

Sir Thomas Gresham was the founder of the London Stock Exchange and Gresham College.  He was the son of Sir Richard Gresham (c.1485-1549) and his first wife, Audrey (d.1522).  In 1543 he took the freedom in the Mercers' Company, and the following year he took charge of the Greshams' commercial venture in the Netherlands.  In 1544 he married Anne Ferneley, the widow of the merchant, William Read, and a few years later was appointed as Royal Agent in the Netherlands.  His industry in this area of commerce ensured that the English crown's debts to the Netherlands were all but eliminated, and as a reward he was knighted in 1559.  In 1565 he proposed to the Court of Aldermen of the City that an exchange should be built for the accomodation of merchants and the foundation stone was laid in 1566.  The present painting appears to be a reduced version of a three-quarter length portrait in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.