Godfried Schalcken (Dordrecht 1643-1706 The Hague), Portrait of James Stuart, 4th Duke of Lennox and 1st Duke of Richmond (1612-1655), with his greyhound by candlelight, oil on canvas, 94 x 144.5cm (37 x 56 7/8in). Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 (€250,000 - 380,000). Photo Bonhams

Provenance: Pablo Bosch Collection, Barcelona, 19th century
Eduardo de Salas, Madrid
With Rafael Valls Ltd., London
Private Collection, U.S.A

This magnificent canvas is most unusual in the oeuvre of Godfried Schalcken: not only in that it is life-size, but also in that it is based on the work of another artist - in this case, Sir Anthony van Dyck. Schalcken arrived in London in 1692 and was quickly drawn into the English court circle, painting King William III on several occasions. The most telling of these portraits, in relation to our picture, is the candle-lit copy after Kneller, now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The 1690s was also a period when Schalcken painted three self-portraits by candlelight, of which those in the Uffizi and Leamington Spa use the same candle holder as in our picture.

The van Dyck of the Duke of Lennox, now at Kenwood, was painted around 1636 and by 2 September 1659, four years after the Duke's death, was recorded in the inventory of Lady Leicester's goods, presumably at Leicester House, where Schalcken must have seen it.

The present lot will be published in Wayne Franits forthcoming book on the artist.

The greyhound, on whose shoulder the Duke's hand rests, is traditionally said to have saved his master's life. One version of this story is that this happened during a boar hunt, to which a spear in the background may be a reference; the other is that he woke his master from a deep sleep, as a would-be assassin approached.

Bonhams. OLD MASTER PAINTINGS. London, New Bond Street, 9 Jul 2014 - http://www.bonhams.com