Paulus Moreelse (Utrecht 1571-Utrecht 1638)
Sophia Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (1592-1642), Princess of Nassau-Dretz Signed and dated 1616
Oil on canvas | 239.0 x 140.5 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 406168
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The sitter was daughter of Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick, and was married in 1607 to Ernst Casimir I of Nassau-Dietz (1573-1632), a distinguished general in the service of the Dutch Republic. This portrait was probably painted when the couple were living in Utrecht. The sitter is shown holding a lace handkerchief in her right hand; wearing a black silk dress, slashed, with multiple ropes of pearls linked by a red rosette at her breast and a lace ruff. Inscribed: 'PMoreelse. fe / Ano 1611'
Provenance
First recorded in the collection of Anne of Denmark, the sitter’s aunt; recorded in the Queen's Gallery at Greenwich in 1639 (no 31); sold for £4 to Murray and others 23 October 1651 (no 140); recovered at the Restoration and listed in the 2nd Privy Lodging Room at Whitehall in 1666 (no 219)
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Creator(s)
(nationality)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
239.0 x 140.5 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
203.0 x 127.0 cm (support (etc), excluding additions)
265.0 x 165.7 x 7.3 cm (frame, external)
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
Elizabeth, Duchess of Brunswick, previously identified as
Anne, Duchess of Brunswick (wife of Frederick Ulic), previously identified as
Portrait of a Lady in a laced ruff
