Circle of Cornelis Ketel

The sitter can be identified as Stephen Beckingham (c. 1550–1611) from the coat of arms (quarterly: 1 and 4 Argent a fess embattled counter-embattled between three escallops, for Beckingham of Lincolnshire; 2 and 3 a chevron between three bucks' heads cabossed attired, for Beckingham of Kent) and the crest (a demi griffin Argent wings collared beak gules and sable holding in the dexter claw a scimitar). The inscription would suggest he was born in 1548.

These arms are almost identical to those found on the carved panels from Beckingham Hall, Tolleshunt Major, Essex, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.¹ Beckingham Hall was built by the sitter's father, Stephen Beckingham (1518–1588), on former monastic land granted to the family by King Henry VIII in 1544. The panelling, dated to around 1546, is said to have been saved from the fire which destroyed the manor house in the eighteenth century.

In his will of 1609, Stephen Beckingham bequeathed his nephew, Sir Thomas Beckingham (c. 1574–1633), 'my lace or chaine of gold w[ch] I use to weare about my neck',² perhaps the chain depicted here.

This painting was clearly produced by an artist working in the circle of the Dutch painter, Cornelis Ketel (1548–1616), active in Elizabethan London between 1573 and 1581. A tentative attribution to Cornelis de Vischer (c. 1520-1586) has also been suggested.

¹ Accession no. W.33-1912; carved and joined oak, 192 x 292 x 13 cm.: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O140692/panelling-unknown/

² Will of Stephen Beckingham of Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex. TNA PROB 11/117/284