Portrait Paintings

Collection: National Trust Collections, London, United Kingdom

Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States

Jesse René: Victor René Value's son from his first marriage to Elizabeth Bean. In the painting, he is depicted as a young boy wearing a uniform from his father's school.

Collection: Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain

This portrait of Theodore Roosevelt was painted by renowned artist John Singer Sargent in 1903. Architect Charles McKim, who oversaw major renovations to the White House occurring at the time, invited Sargent to paint Roosevelt's portrait. Though the artist later complained that Roosevelt would agree to only short sittings, the president was very pleased with the end result. On February 19 he wrote in a letter to his son Kermit, noting that "This afternoon I had my last sitting with Mr. Sargent. I like his picture enormously." A former governor of New York, Roosevelt became president upon the assassination of William McKinley, on September 14, 1901 and served until March 4, 1909.

Collection: The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, United States

Collection: Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, England

The wealthy cloth merchant Peeter Stevens (c. 1590-1668) was thirty-seven years old when he had his portrait painted by Van Dyck in 1627. On 12 March 1628, Stevens married twenty-two-yearold Anna Wake (1605-before 1669), the eldest daughter of the Englishman Lionel Wake, a Catholic merchant and resident of Antwerp, who was a good friend of Rubens. The portrait of Anna Wake was most likely commissioned to mark their marriage, as the pendant to the existing portrait of her husband. The square ring on Wake’s left thumb is probably her wedding ring.

Sir Edward Burne-Jones (1833 – 1898), painted in a highly stylized, romantic, and symbolist manner that bridged the gap between the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the European Symbolist movement. His work is defined by elongated, melancholic figures, dreamlike atmospheres, and deep inspirations from medieval legends, Arthurian romances, and early Italian Renaissance masters like Sandro Botticelli.

Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States

Henry Langford Brown (1802-1859) was the owner of estates at Combsatchfield, Kingskerswell and Bradninch, Devon. He married his wife, Mary (nee Steptoe) in 1830. Clack’s reputation in Exeter was considerable and if not for ill health he would undoubtedly have enjoyed greater notoriety beyond his home county. This portrait was donated by a family descendant.

Collection: Liechtenstein National Museum / City Palace, Vienna, Austria

Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States

Sitter: Lauriette M. Ashley (American, 1803–1870)

Collection: Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI, United States

As this stunning portrait by the fashionable Hungarian society artist suggests, she was a remarkable woman. A famous society and political hostess, whose favourite expression was ‘What lovely fun!’, she held huge receptions at Londonderry House in London and country house parties at Mount Stewart. But she was also an outspoken and articulate supporter of women’s rights as well as a devoted wife to the 7th Marquess and loving mother to Maureen, Robin, Margaret, Helen and Mairi. During the First World War she worked for the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and became the first military DBE.

This family portrait depicts a fictional scene. William Pepperrell commissioned the painting after losing both his family’s fortune and his wife, Elizabeth Pepperrell. In this portrait the family is together again, surrounded by symbols of wealth. An earlier version of this portrait included a Black servant. The figure may have been left out of the final version because slavery was a highly debated topic in England.