Lady Essex (Rich) Finch, later Countess of Nottingham

Maker Peter Lely (British, 1618-1680)

SitterSitter: Lady Essex (Rich) Finch, later Countess of Nottingham (British, 1652 - 1684)

Collections

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Dateca. 1675

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensions46 x 37 7/8 in. (116.8 x 96.2 cm.) frame: 58 × 50 × 3 1/2 in. (147.3 × 127 × 8.9 cm.)

DescriptionSeated three-quarter length in an open landscape, head three-quarters front turned slightly to the left. Proper left arm straight, hand resting on a rock. Proper right arm pointing across the body to the right of the picture. Dressed in low-cut white chemise under gold silk robe with light blue silk cape attached at proper right shoulder by a jeweled brooch. Long brown hair is tied at back of neck and falls in loose curls about the face. Stands of trees frame the figure, rolling hills and sky in far distance.

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Label TextLady Essex sits before a dense landscape that lacks reference to any specific time or place in order to convey an impression of permanence. In the seventeenth century, when illness and death were common, portraiture was an important instrument of remembrance and reassurance. The simple white shift that Lady Essex wears loosely, without a corset, is meant to recall the body-revealing drapery of Greek sculpture. The sensuality of the portrait reflects the taste of the period, but is also appropriate to the occasion which inspired the commission, most likely the sitter's marriage.

Status

On view

Object number51.13