FRENCH SCHOOL, CIRCA 1600 | Portrait of a lady, sold together with a portrait medal of Henry IV and his wife Marie de Medici

Sir John Frecheville Ramsden (1877–1958), 6th Bt., Bulstrode Park, Gerrards Cross;

His deceased sale, London, Christie's, 27 May 1932, lot 33, for £37–16s to Freeman;

The Countess of Midleton, Eastwell Park, Kent, and thence by descent.

The medal worn by the lady is taken from a portrait medal by Guillaume Dupré of Henry IV and his wife Marie de Medici made in 1603. The King was sufficiently pleased with the medal to grant Dupré the right, for ten years, to make as many examples and variants as he liked to sell throughout France. That Dupré made full use of his privileges is demonstrated both by the large number of examples of this piece surviving and by the number of variants executed in succeeding years; the medal by Simon de Passe from circa 1625, sold along with the present portrait, is just such an example.