Portrait of a Man, possibly Sir Edward Stafford (1552–1605)

Datecirca 1590

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensionsoverall: 79 1/2 × 39 3/4in. (201.9 × 101cm)
frame (Framed): 88 7/8 × 48 1/2 × 1 3/4in. (225.7 × 123.2 × 4.4cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. James MacLamroc, 1967, and dedicated to Perry Hurt, Director of Conservation and Paintings Conservator (1998–2025), by the NCMA Board of Trustees, 2025

Object numberGL.67.13.4

On View

Not on view

Label TextThis portrait contains several clues to the subject’s identity that we have not been able to piece together yet. In the upper left corner, thunderstorm clouds and an iris are connected by the words “Sans Orage,” French for “Without Storm.” These images and words are not a family crest but an imprese, a set of symbols specific to one person.

These symbols pair with the man’s extravagant gold clothing, indicating that we are seeing him dressed in his very best. The large semitransparent sash he wears would have been embroidered with gold and silver thread. It may have been a favor, or token of luck, given to the sitter during participation in a ceremonial tournament or joust.
[M. Frederick, "Portraits and Power," 2024]Provenance[All Balliol Scott family property, presumed to include the NCMA’s eight “Scott” portraits, pass through various branches of the family of Scots’ Hall, Smeeth, Kent, England]; George Scott (1673–1728); by descent to Edward Scott (1710–1765), Scot’s Hall, Smeeth, ca. 1728: by descent to Francis Talbot Scott (1745–1789), 1765; Scott family portraits are transferred to Caroline Scott (1751–1809) and her husband George Best (1760–1818), Chilston Park, Kent, England, ca. 1784–1795; by descent to Thomas Fairfax Best (1786-1849) and Margaret Anna Brett Best (d. 1882), London, Chilston Park, and Weirton Park, Boughton Monchelsea, Staplehurst, Kent, 1818; by descent to Frances Best and her husband, Major William Henry Archer, 1882; by descent to their son Major Henry Alan Fairfax Best Archer and his wife, Catherine Maria Scott; paintings sold to Sir Edward Arthur Barry (1858–1949), who married Scott descendent Eleanor Margaret Scott (d. 1916), Ockwells Manor, Berkshire, England, between 1891 and 1916; paintings sold to Colonel Frank Douglas Scott, Sir Edward Arthur Barry allows the portraits to remain at Ockwells Manor, Berkshire, England, 1947; sold to James G. W. MacLamroc, Greensboro, NC, 1965 [portraits come directly to NCMA in June 1965]; given to NCMA, 1969. [PDF of Unedited Provenance notes is attached to this TMS record.]
Published ReferencesEdward Town and Jessica David, "Daniël van den Queborn, painter to the House of Orange and its English allies in the Netherlands" in Migrants: art, artists, materials and ideas crossing borders (Cambridge: Archetype Publications in association with the Hamilton Kerr Institute, University of Cambridge, 2019), illus. (color) 25, fig. 10, as "Daniël van den Queborn (attrib.), Sir Reginald Scott (?)".Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, “History and Mystery: Discoveries in the NCMA British Collection,” August 6, 2016–June 25, 2017.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," September 5, 2023-May 29, 2024.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," June 17, 2024-April 7, 2025. Object Rights Statement

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