Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (Bruges 1561/2 - 1636 London), Portrait of a lady, said to be Lady  Holderness. Photo Sotheby's

inscribed and dated upper right: Ætatis Suæ 29. / Anno Dõ. 1628. Oil on panel, 67.5 by 52 cm.; 26 1/2 by 20 1/2 in. Estimation 30,000-50,000 GBP. Lot vendu: 44,450 GBP

PROVENANCE: With Mr Morant, by whom sold to;
Ivor Churchill Guest, 1st Viscount Wimborne (1873-1939), Canford Manor, Dorset;
By whom sold, London, Sotheby's, 18 July 1928, lot 62A, for 32 gns. to Moore (as by Gilbert Jackson);Ferargil Galleries, New York, pre. 1955;
By whom sold to Casson Galleries, Boston.

LITTERATURE: A Catalogue of the Pictures at Canford Manor, privately printed, 1888, p. 82, no. 197.

NOTE: Previously thought to be by Gilbert Jackson, this work can be correctly attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger both on stylistic grounds, and through the distinctive lettering of the inscription, upper right.(1). Furthermore there are a number of striking comparisons, both in terms of composition and dress, with the artist's signed Portrait of Anne Hale, Mrs Hoskins, painted in 1629.(2). The sitter has traditionally been identified as Martha, daughter of Sir William Cokayne, of Rushton (1561-1626), and second wife of John Ramsay, Earl of Holderness (c.1580-1625). Following his death she married secondly, in 1627, Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey (1608-1666), a direct ancestor of Viscount Wimbourne. However as she was baptised in 1605, and assuming this was done in the year of her birth, would have been twenty three years old in 1628 when this picture was painted, the identity seems unlikely.

1. See R. Strong, 'Elizabethan Painting: An Approach Through Inscriptions - III Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger', Burlington Magazine, vol. 105, no. 721, April 1963, pp. 149-150, 157 & 159.
2. See K. Hearn, Marcus Gheeraerts II, Elizabethan Artist, Tate Gallery exhibition catalogue, London 2002, p. 48, no.39

Sotheby's. Old Master & British Paintings Day Sale. Londres | 05 juil. 2012 www.sothebys.com