Workshop or Follower of Sir Anthony van Dyck

Possibly anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 27 May 1964, lot 101 (as Lely);

Possibly where acquired by "Klein";

Art market (as Peter Lely, Duchess of Devonshire);

Where acquired by the present collector, 2004.

This grand, three-quarter-length portrait of Lucy Percy, Countess of Carlisle, exemplifies the refined elegance of Sir Anthony van Dyck’s court portraiture. Produced either in Van Dyck’s workshop or by a member of his broader circle, the painting testifies to both the enduring appeal of the artist’s courtly idiom and the enduring allure of the Countess herself.

The Countess—a celebrated beauty and influential figure in the court of Charles I—wears a sumptuous auburn satin gown, to the bodice of which a red rose is affixed, subtly drawing attention to her décolletage. Renowned for her wit, intelligence, and political acumen, she was the frequent subject of contemporary portraitists, who often portrayed her in semi-allegorical guises. (Van Dyck painted her on at least three occasions.) Here, the inclusion of a classical fountain at left reinforced the idealized nature of the portrayal and reflects Van Dyck’s popular approach of representing aristocratic femininity with grace and symbolic resonance.

The prime version of the composition remains in the Egrement collection at Petworth House in West Sussex.¹ Several versions after that painting exist,² including a small watercolor on blue paper executed by J.M.W. Turner in 1827.³ The Petworth painting was first recorded in an inventory of the sitter’s brother, the 10^th Earl of Northumberland, 30 June 1671, which lists it as one of “Two Pictures of the Countesse of Carlisle, Done by Van Dycke”—the other of which may well be the present work.

¹ Inv. no. NT 485068. See S.J. Barnes, in Van Dyck, A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, S.J. Barned, N. De Noorter, O. Millar, and H. Vey (eds.), New Haven and London 2004, pp. 455-456, cat. no. IV.38, reproduced.

² Versions after the Petworth prime are today in the collections of Ham House, Ombersley Park, and Syon House (the latter painted by Thomas Phillips in 1820). Van Dyck’s original was also engraved by Pierre Lombart in his series of Countesses.

³ London, Tate Gallery, inv. no. Turner Bequest CCXLIV 100v. See Elizabeth Jacklin, “A Copy of Van Dyck’s Portrait of Lucy Percy, Countess of Carlisle, at Petworth House 1827,” catalogue entry, February 2019, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2024, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/a-copy-of-van-dycks-portrait-of-lucy-percy-countess-of-carlisle-at-petworth-house-r1209167.