Lady Mary Villiers, Later Duchess of Richmond and Lennox (1622–1685), with Charles Hamilton, Lord Arran (circa 1630–1640)

Artist Anthony van Dyck Flemish, 1599–1641, active in Great Britain

Datecirca 1637

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions83 1/4 x 52 1/2 in. (211.5 x 133.4 cm)
Frame: 94 1/2 x 63 3/4 in. (240 x 161.9 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Theodore Webb

Object numberG.52.17.1

On View

Not on view

ProvenanceCreated London, ca. 1637. James Hamilton (1606–1649), 1st Duke of Hamilton, Hamilton Palace, Lanarkshire, Scotland, by 1638 [1]; the Dukes of Hamilton, ca. 1649–1882; William Alexander Louis Stephen Douglas-Hamilton (1845– 1895), 12th Duke of Hamilton; [his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, June 17, 1882, no. 31, as Portraits of the Duchess of Richmond and Her Son]; purchased by Duncan on behalf of Christopher Beckett Denison (1825– 1884), Upper Grosvenor Street, London; [his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, June 6, 1885, no. 914, as Portraits of the Duchess of Richmond and Her Son]; Mr. Boore, London, until at least 1896 [2]. Baron Alfred de Rothschild (1842–1918), Halton House, Buckinghamshire, England; by descent to his nephew Lionel de Rothschild (1882–1942), Exbury House, Hampshire, England. [Koetser Gallery, New York]; Mrs. Theodore Webb, North Carolina; given to NCMA, 1952.

[1] The painting is placed in the collection of James Hamilton by an inventory of 1638, no. 289.
[2]Owner according to Jules Guiffrey and William Alison, trans., Sir Anthony van Dyck: his life and his work (London: H. Henry & Co., 1896), 299, no. 794: "Formerly in Coll. of Duke of Hamilton; bought by C. Beckett Denison in 1882; now in possession of Mr. Boore." An annotated version of the Denison catalogue in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Library confirms Boore bought the painting at the 1885 sale.

Published ReferencesJohn Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, Vol. 9 (London: Smith and Son, 1842), no. 79 Gustav F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, Vol. 3 (London: John Murray, 1854), 297. Jules Guiffrey, Antoine van Dyck: sa vie et son œuvre (Paris: A. Quantin, 1882), 275, no. 794, as Marie Villiers, duchesse de Richmond en pied, avec son fils en Cupidon, tenant une flèche. “Catalogue of the collection of pictures, works of art, and decorative objects, the property of His Grace the Duke of Hamilton, K.T.” (auction catalogue) (London: Christie, Manson & Woods, June 17, 1882), lot 31, as Portraits of the Duchess of Richmond and Her Son. “Catalogue of the Valuable Collection of Pictures, Works of Art, and Decorative Objects, of Christopher Beckett Denison, Esq.” (auction catalogue) (London: Christie, Manson & Woods, June 6, 1885), lot 914, as Portraits of the Duchess of Richmond and Her Son. Jules Guiffrey and William Alison, trans., Sir Anthony van Dyck: his life and his work (London: H. Henry & Co., 1896), 299, no. 794, as Mary Villiers, Duchess of Richmons, full-length, with her son as a Cupid, holding an arrow. Lionel F. S. Cust, Anthony Van Dyck: An Historical Study of His Life and Works (London: George Bell and Sons, 1905), 116-17. W. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), cat. no. 112 (as Mary, Duchess of Lennox), illus. (b-w) unnumbered page. Ralph Edwards and L. G. G. Ramsey, eds., The Connoisseur Period Guides: The Stuart Period: 1603-1714 (London: Reynal, 1957), pl. 29, illus. 52. Horst Vey, Die Zeichnungen Anton Van Dyck (Brussels, 1962), 210, under no. 140. Carolina Charter Tercentenary Exhibition (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1963), cat. no. 73, illus. (b-w). Charles W. Stanford, Masterpieces in the North Carolina Museum of Art (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1966), no. 14, illus (b-w). Klara Garas, “Die Entstehung der Galerie des Erzherzogs Leopold Wilhelm,” Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien 63 (1967), 69, no. 289. Gertrude Rosenthal, ed, From El Greco to Pollock: Early and Late Works by European and American Artists (exhibition catalogue) (Baltimore: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1968), cat. no. 6, illus. Sammy J. Hardman, "Duchess Duplicated," Country Life (September 1971), 555. Oliver Millar, The Age of Charles I: Painting in England, 1620-1649 (exhibition catalogue) (London: Tate Gallery, 1972), cat. no. 98, illus. Giovan P. Bellori, Le Vite de'Pittori, Scultori, et Archittetti Moderni (Torino: Giulio Einaud, 1976), 281, 733. Sammy J. Hardman, Sir Anthony van Dyck’s Portraits of Lady Mary Villiers, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox (Atlanta, 1976), discussed, 5, 6, 13, illus. (line drawing) pl. 15. J. De Bie, Griekse Mythologie en Europese Cultuur (Antwerp: Klassiek Verbond, 1979), 183, illus. fig. 35. Erik Larsen, L'opera completa di Van Dyck: 1626-1641, Vol. 2 (Milan: Rizzoli, 1980), cat. no. 946, illus. 124. Myra Nan Rosenfeld, Largillierre and the Eighteenth-Century Portrait (exhibition catalogue) (Montreal: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1981), cat. no. 11, illus. Christopher Brown, Van Dyck (Oxford: Phaidon, 1982), 191. Oliver Millar, Van Dyck in England (London: National Portrait Gallery, 1982), mentioned 29, illus. (b-w) 28, fig. 32. Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 138. Erik Larsen, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, 2 vols (Freren: Luca Verlag, 1988), no. 972, illus. 340. Ellis Kirkham Waterhouse, The Dictionary of 16th & 17th Century British Painters (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club, 1988), 274, illus. (b-w). Arthur K. Wheelock, et al, Anthony van Dyck (exhibition catalogue) (Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1990), cat. no. 78, illus. (color). North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Winter 1991-92), illus. (b-w) 46 (reference to National Gallery loan, in 1990-91). Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 77. Guy C. Bauman and Walter A. Liedtke, selected by, Flemish Paintings in America: A Survey of Early Netherlandish and Flemish Paintings in the Public Collections of North America, Arnout Balis, Carl van de Velde and Hans Vlieghe, eds., Flandria Extra Muros series (Antwerp: Fonds Mercator, 1992), 332, illus. fig. 217. Susan J. Barnes and Arthur K. Wheelock, "Anthony van Dyck: An Afterword." Van Dyck 350 (Studies in the History of Art) (Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1994), 368. Richard T. Godfrey, Wenceslaus Hollar: A Bohemian Artist in England (New Haven: Yale University, 1994), 13, illus. fig. 11, p. 75, also illus. fig. 7, as by Hollar (reversed). Doron J. Lurie, Van Dyck and His Age (Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 1995), 69, illus. (color) 140. (Catalogue only, not in show.) Irene Groeneweg, "Court and City: Dress in the Age of Frederik Hendrik and Amalia," trans. Michèle Hendricks (Ingrid Grunnhill, ed.), in Princely Display: The Court of Frederik Hendrik of Orange and Amalia van Solms in the Hague, edited and compiled by Marika Keblusek and Jori Zijlmans (Zwolle: Waanders Uitgevers, 1997), 213, illus. (color) 200. Palazzo dei Diamanti Ferrara, "Thomas Gainsborough," July 7-August 30, 1998, catalogue by John Hayes (Ferrara: Ferrara Arte S.p.A., 1998), 48-49, illus. 48. Dennis Weller, entry for Lady Mary Villiers, later Duchess of Richmond and Lennox, with Charles Hamilton, Lord Arran, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 161, 162, illus. (color) 162. Roy Strong, The Spirit of Britain (London: Hutchinson, 1999), illus. (color) 265. Velázquez, Rubens y van Dyck: Pintores Cortesanos del Siglo XVII (exhibition catalogue) (Madrid: Museo Nacional del Prado, 1999), cat. no 21, illus. (color) 177. J. Douglas Stewart, "Reflections on eroticism, love and the antique in Van Dyck's art," Apollo 152, no. 462 (August 2000), 29-31, illus. (b-w) 33. Seeing Women: Celebrating Women's History through Art. Newspapers in Education (supplement to the Raleigh News & Observer), n.d.: 13, illus. (b-w) 13, illus. (color) 3, 9. Emilie E. S. Gordenker, Van Dyck and the Representation of Dress in Seventeenth-Century Portraiture (Turnhout: Brepols, 2001), discussed 65, illus. (color) 165. Preview: The Magazine of the North Carolina Museum of Art (September/October 2002), illus. (color) 22, detail (color) inside front cover. Susan J. Barnes, Nora De Poorter, Oliver Millar, and Horst Vey, Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings (New Haven and London: Published for The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, 2004), cat. no. IV.204, illus. (color). Hors-série de Connaissance des Arts no. 375 (2008), illus. (color) 17. Dennis P. Weller, “Seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish Paintings in Raleigh,” Codart (Winter 2009), mentioned 13. Dennis P. Weller, Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings [Systematic Catalogue of the Collection] (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2009), cat. no. 50, illus. (color) 239. Dennis P. Weller, entry for Lady Mary Villiers, Later Duchess of Richmond and Lennox (1622-1685), with Charles Hamilton, Lord Arran (circa 1630-1640), in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 332, illus. (color) 333. Dennis P. Weller, “Back from the Cleaners: The Masterful Touch of Anthony van Dyck,” in North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Fall 2013), discussed 22–23, illus. “before and after” (color) 23. Lesley J. Nickell, Butterfly, Volume 1: Painted Lady (UK: FeedARead.com Publishing, 2013), detail (color) front and back cover. Christopher Maxwell, “’The most perfect taste’: the Rothschild acquisitions at the Hamilton Palace sale of 1882,” The Burlington Magazine 157, no. 1351 (October 2015), 694, illus. (color) 695. Cristina Galassi, Ritratto di una virtuosa canterina: Eleonora Baroni e il pittore Fabio della Corgna al tempo dei Barberini, (Perugia, Italy: Aguaplano, 2017), illus. (color)

Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Carolina Charter Tercentenary Exhibition," March 23-April 28, 1963, cat. no. 73, illus. (b-w). Baltimore, MD, Baltimore Museum of Art, "From El Greco to Pollock: Early and Late Works by European and American Artists," October 22-December 3, 1968, cat. no. 6, illus. London, Tate Gallery, "The Age of Charles I: Painting in England, 1620-1649," November 15, 1972-January 14, 1973, cat. no. 98, illus. Montreal, Museum of Fine Arts, "Largillierre and the Eighteenth Century Portrait," 1981, cat. no. 11, illus. Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, "Anthony van Dyck," November 11, 1990-February 24, 1991, cat. no. 78, illus. (color). Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, "Velázquez, Rubens y van Dyck: Pintores Cortesanos del Siglo XVII," December 15, 1999-March 5, 2000, cat. no. 21, illus. (color) 177. Raleigh, 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," October 7, 2022–November 27, 2023.

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