The Portrait

This painting dates from about 1619 and has previously been attributed to the portrait artist Cornelius Johnson. After recent research, we now think it is more likely to have been painted by Paul van Somer, an artist from Antwerp in modern day Belgium. Van Somer moved to London in late 1616 and worked there until his death in 1622. He painted a full-length portrait of Queen Anne of Denmark in 1617 and one of her husband King James I the following year. He also painted many other courtiers during his time in London. In 1619, he attended Anne of Denmark’s funeral as her ‘picture-maker’. He was paid between £25 and £30 for a full-length portrait, the equivalent of about £5,000 to £6,000 today.

Is this really the face of Villiers?

This portrait has been known as George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, but is there room for doubt?

The painting was bought by the museum service from the Warwickshire estate of Newnham Paddox in 1938, which was the home of Susan Feilding and her husband the Earl of Denbigh. Susan was close to Villiers and her husband owed his advancement and titles to his powerful brother-in-law, so it would not be surprising that they owned a portrait of him.

After comparing this painting with other portraits that have been securely identified as of George Villiers, however, some art historians have suggested that it might not, in fact, be of him.

We do know that Villiers was a young man in 1619, and a Knight of the Order of the Garter. Tall, blue-eyed and handsome with famously long and slender legs as shown in other known portraits, our sitter certainly matches this description.

Image courtesy of Critchlow & Kukkonen Ltd

Courtesy of Rugby Library Collection and the Rugby Advertiser (Reference: W, 728.8, img: 7822)

The painting being removed from Newnham Paddox near Rugby in Warwickshire prior to the estate sale in 1938. The other portrait in the picture is of Villiers’s sister, Susan Feilding, Countess of Denbigh.