Historical Objects: Portraits of a man and woman c.1551.
The sitters in this pair of portraits have traditionally been identified as Mark Kerr, Commendator of Newbattle (born before 1526 and died c.1584), and his wife Helen Leslie (c.1520-1594). The portraits were in the possession of their descendants the Marquesses of Lothian until 1941; they are now held by the National Galleries of Scotland.
The man on the right is dressed entirely in black, with the exception of the sleeves and collar of his sark that show white underneath the outer garment. His clothes and those of the lady are appropriate for the mid-sixteenth century. The man has reddish-brown hair and forked beard. The lady on the right wears a black gown with red/pink sleeves and a white hood, under which her red hair can be seen. She is pointing to a tablet bearing musical notation. Interestingly, if these portraits are a pair, the lady is portrayed on the viewer’s left and facing the man’s right hand side. This can be found in some other portraits of married couples but more commonly the wife is portrayed on the husband’s left hand side, the viewer’s right.
The artist has variously been identified as Antonis Mor or Willem Key. Neither man is known to have visited Scotland but other Scottish nobles of the period commissioned portraits, books, and other high quality goods from Netherlandish painters, working both on the continent and in England. Many sixteenth century Scots also travelled back and forth to the Low Countries on business and in diplomatic service.
Unfortunately I couldn’t find any sources that analysed the traditional attribution of the paintings in depth. Therefore I’m reluctant to accept the claim that the sitters are Mark Kerr and Helen Leslie without question, even though it’s entirely plausible (and many more famous portraits have been associated with historical figures on far less evidence). Nonetheless I thought the paintings were still lovely pieces that deserved some attention, even if the details are (understandably) hard to verify.
Reproduced by the permission of the National Galleries of Scotland under the creative commons license.
