"Portrait Of Lady Elizabeth Bertie Willoughby On A Porch 1692; Jan Van Der Vaart, Oil Painting"
Portrait of Lady Elizabeth Bertie nee Willoughby (1673-1715) Inscribed 1692Attributed to Jan van der Vaart (c.1647-1727)
This elegant work formed part of the collection of family pictures and heirlooms of the Earls of Abingdon, descendants of the sitter, at their magnificent family estate Wytham Abbey near Oxford. Described as ‘one of the loveliest houses in England’, Queen Elizabeth I, Oliver Cromwell and Queen Victoria all visited this house of marble fireplaces, oak staircases, grandly-proportioned rooms and secret doorways disguised as bookcases.
The portrait was painted by Jan van der Vaart (1647-1721) who was a Dutch painter, art restorer, and collector born in Haarlem, Netherlands. He has depicted his young sitter seated on a porch next to a classical urn and before a rich violet curtain, in the distance is a warm evening sky; the format was a very popular one during the last quarter of the seventeenth century and the first quarter of the next. The classical elements portray a sense of a cultivation and a learned lady, and the architecture, exuberant draperies, and large black diamond and pearl jewels portray wealth; it is clear that the sitter was a paragon of the elite society that she belonged to. The bold colour combination of scarlet, blue, and white is visually striking. The confident rendering of the dress and the thickly drawn copious hair are hallmarks of Van der Vaart’s work.
Inscribed lower left "Eliz. Wife of Hon. James Bertie, Dau. of Geo. 7th Ld. Willoughby, 1692 of Parham". Born Elizabeth Willoughby on 26th April 1673, the sitter was the only surviving daughter of the English peer, George Willoughby, 7th Baron Willoughby of Parham (1636-1674), a member of an ancient English family. By the death of her brother John, eighth Lord Willoughby (to whom she was heir), and by the will of her uncle Charles, tenth Lord Willoughby (who left no issue), Elizabeth inherited a great estate.
On 5th January 1692, the same year in which the portrait was painted, Lady Elizabeth married the Honorable James Bertie of Stanwell (c.1674-1735), son of James Bertie, 1st Earl of Abingdon; the Bertie family were prominent landowners in the Oxford area and were involved in the political history of England. The portrait was probably commissioned to mark the sitter’s marriage in 1692 - whether or not our portrait served as a pendant to a portrait of her husband is unknown.
Lady Elizabeth gave birth to fourteen children of whom six lived to maturity. James Bertie became the 2nd Earl of Abingdon and inherited the family estate of Wytham Abbey in 1699. Our sitter died in 1715 and was buried in St Mary the Virgin, Stanwell, Spelthorne Borough, Surrey. Sir George later married Elizabeth Calvert, daughter of Rev. George Calvert of Stanwell. Sir George died in 1735 and was succeeded by his son Willoughby who afterwards became the third Earl of Abingdon. Our portrait remained with the family for over 230 years until Montagu Arthur Bertie, 7th Earl of Abingdon (1836-1928) sold it as part of the contents of Wytham Abbey in 1923, along with many other family pictures and heirlooms.
Wytham Abbey's construction can be attributed to a member of the Harcourt family and is generally accepted that it was constructed c.1485-1500. It is known from later sources that the building had a Long Gallery, and it is likely that the original house was adapted to accommodate this fashionable feature of many gentry houses of the late 16th century. This sprawling, Grade I-listed abbey still has plenty of features from its original era: there is a Tudor-arched doorway, oriel windows, stained glass panels, turrets and battlements.
Van der Vaart was a pupil of Thomas Wijck and was working in Haarlem as early as 1670. He moved to England in 1673/1674 and worked in London painting landscapes, figures, and still life’s. He occasionally collaborated with the artist Johann Kerseboom but, notably, he painted draperies and landscapes for the fashionable Willem Wissing, who was a pupil and former collaborator of the court portrait painter Sir Peter Lely, eventually taking over Wissing’s own studio after that artist’s death in 1687. Jan may also have been the ‘Landervart’ who together with Wissing and others completed many of Lely’s unfinished studio paintings after his death.
In 1693 and 1694 he is known to have lived in Bedford House, Covent Garden, on the south side of Henrietta Street. In 1713 he sold his collection and established a picture restoration business in 1713, a business in which his nephew continued after his death. He was buried in St Pauls Church, Covent Garden, London on 30th March 1727.
Provenance:
Measurements:
Height 147cm, Width 121cm framed (Height 57.75”, Width 47.75” framed
Le Magazine de PROANTIC
TRÉSORS Magazine
Rivista Artiquariato