Willem Wissing 1656-1687

Three-quarter length, seated, wearing a red dress with a blue cloak

Possibly in the collection of Sir Stephen Fox (d.1716) and thence by descent

Royal Academy, The Age of Charles II, 1960-61, no.389 (lent by the Earl of Ilchester)

The painting would appear to be in generally very good condition. The canvas has been lined. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals a thick varnish which obscures a clear reading. However, there would appear to be evidence of retouching to lines of craquelure in the sitter's face, chest, and drapery. Held in a carved wood frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The sitter was the daughter of Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington, and his wife, Isabella, daughter of Louis de Nassau, Count of Beverwaet and Auverquerque in Holland.  In 1672 she married Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton, the second son of Barbara Villiers and Charles II,  She was only a child, and they were re-married formally in 1679.  John Evelyn recorded in his diary that "this sweetest, hopfullest, most beautifull child, & most virtuous too, was Sacrific to a boy, that had been rudely bred...[she] will in few yeares be such a paragon, as were fit to make the Wife of the greatest Prince in Europe" (John Evelyn, Diary, IV, p.184).  Her husband died from wounds sustained during the siege of Cork, and she married secondly Sir Thomas Hanmer, 4th Bt.  A portrait of her was amongst the series of "beauties" at Hampton Court.