Dress and Textiles, Portraits: British 16th and 17th C 7 comments Is the artist John Riley, with draperies by John Closterman?
Photo credit: Moot Hall Museum, Elstow
The most accessible comparisons are Riley’s portraits of John, Baron Somers and William Chiffinch in the collection of Dulwich Picture Gallery.
https://bit.ly/3pQyVzB
https://bit.ly/38gGzNW
The Somers shows the feigned oval of which Riley was especially fond (compare his portraits of the poet Edmund Waller, National Portrait Gallery https://bit.ly/3ojtb0S and elsewhere https://bit.ly/3pWpbnD) and Elias Ashmole (Ashmolean https://bit.ly/3ngLfHU). These are all dated to the 1680s, when Closterman worked with Riley as a drapery painter.
A dating in the 1680s for the portrait at Moot Hall creates a problem, because Sir Samuel Luke died aged 67 in 1670, and Riley did not come into his own as a painter until the 1680s. I suppose that 'portraits' of Luke, said to be the model for Samuel Butler's Hudibras, might have been demand in literary circles in later times.
Malcolm Rogers, Entry reviewed by Art UK
7 comments
The curator of Moot Hall has found an old label on the back of the picture inscribed 'Robert Walker 1658'.
Robert Walker (1599–1658) painted various Parliamentary Army leaders. https://bit.ly/3bnVLeb
The feigned oval frame looks as if it may have been added after the fact, and so does the sitter's name.
Certainly the sitter's name looks like a later addition, but the plain stone oval (unusual in being plain as opposed to carved) is a motif that Riley used on several occasions.
I have three comments on this older discussion.
Here is some background information about portraits of Sir Samuel Luke and his family.
I suspect that the two paintings in lot 181 from day two of an 1832 Oxenham & Son (London) auction (May 31 – June 1) were this painting and the painting of the sitter's wife, 'Mrs. Luke'. The works were attributed to "Zoust", one of the names used for Soest. https://tinyurl.com/yu8n3d53
This portrait was in the collection of the Duke of Bedford in 1877. In an 1877 catalogue of "pictures, miniatures and enamels" at Woburn Abbey by Sir George Scharf, portraits of Sir Samuel Luke and Mrs. Luke (no. 149 and no. 150) were attributed to "Walker". https://tinyurl.com/vu5sxzcr
In an 1892 catalogue of pictures at Woburn Abbey by Adeline Marie Somers-Cocks Russell, Duchess of Bedford, portraits of 'Sir Samuel Luke' and 'Elizabeth, Lady Luke' (no. 149 and no. 150) were attributed to "Robert Walker". https://tinyurl.com/44nj66u8
An article from 1954, attached, about the acquisition of the portrait of Sir Samuel Luke indicated that the artist was Soest.
I wonder if the 1951 catalogue in the provenance section of the following painting would be useful in the search for the artist of this Art UK work. Perhaps the painting of Lady Elizabeth Luke wearing a "yellow satin dress" is listed in that catalogue with an attribution.
https://www.vads.ac.uk/digital/collection/NIRP/id/33236
At first, I was confused about the photo of a portrait of Sir Samuel Luke in a book published by J. Pickburn in 1863 since it does not match 'our' Art UK work.
https://books.google.ca/books/about/Records_of_Buckinghamshire_Or_Papers_and.html?id=CTgQAAAAYAAJ&redir_esc=y
Text on page 363 confirms that the man in the portrait on the second of two pages between pages 362 and 363 is Sir Samuel Luke (1603–1670).
The portrait in the book matches a portrait of Sir Samuel Luke on Art UK in the collection of The Higgins Bedford. Three Luke family portraits in that collection were purchased from Miss Ethel B. Risley in 1949. I have attached some snippets that are related to this purchase and a snippet about C.R. Parry-Crooke of Friston, Suffolk.
Here are the links to the three Luke family portraits at The Higgins Bedford:
'Sir Samuel Luke of Cople' https://tinyurl.com/2cj428ed
'Lady Luke' https://tinyurl.com/yc67cj8c
'Mr. Luke, Son of Samuel Luke' https://tinyurl.com/2p86aym3
A portrait of Sir Samuel Luke “by Cornelius Jansen” is in the frontispiece of a paper by I. G. Philip that was originally published in three parts between 1950 and 1953 by the Oxfordshire Record Society. I have attached the image. Note that it was "presented by Miss Ethel B. Risley", therefore it is clearly the portrait of Sir Samuel Luke at The Higgins Bedford.
http://goddard-association.org.uk/secure/pdf/Samuel_Luke_Journal.pdf
A snippet, attached, from a book from 1970 indicates that there were portraits of Sir Samuel Luke by Soest and Jansen. Is the portrait of Sir Samuel Luke at The Higgins Bedford by Jansen?
The book from 1863, discussed above, mentioned that the three Luke family portraits were owned by Reverend W. Cotton Risley of Adderbury. Probate records show that he was Reverend William Cotton Risley (d. 1869) of Deddington and his granddaughter was Ethel Blanche Risley (February 27, 1871– April 15, 1951). https://tinyurl.com/2ax2a5fh
Another useful link is to a publication from 1965 that mentions the Barber and Risley families, including Ethel B. Risley. It also has some images of paintings in private collections that might be compared to portraits of Sir Samuel Luke.
https://www.banburymuseum.org/Cake and Cockhorse/VOL_02/V02NO12.pdf
The author of that section of the document was Cyril Beeson.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Beeson
I'm wondering if the titles of the three Luke family portraits at The Higgins Bedford could be updated.
The prominent lace cravat may help with dating, so Lou Taylor should be asked about it, but it could certainly be 1680s--in which case this could be by Riley/Closterman but not a portrait of Samuel Luke. The cravat, however, could also be earlier than 1680s, I expect. Also, the attribution to Soest is plausible enough, and he did paint Samuel Butler, the author of Hudibras.