Portrait of Catherine of Braganza (1638-1705)

Dateca. 1668

Studio of Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680)

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 66 3/4" x 44 9/32"; framed: 75 1/2" x 53 3/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1936-378

DescriptionA three-quarter length portrait of a woman half-turned to the right, seated in a shellback chair or throne, her crown on a pedestal or dais to the right just beyond her. She wears a sumptuous gown, closed down the front, with ermine robes, a pearl choker, and drop pearl earrings. Her hair is curled in ringlets, most hanging loose at the back but one at the side of her head and a short curl at center top of her forehead. She gestures outward, toward the viewer, with her proper right hand, her left rests in her lap. Drapery fills 3/5 of the upper half of the composition.

The frame is not original to the painting but was acquired, separately, specifically for this picture, from H. J. Spiller, London, 14 August 1936.
Label TextMultiples of both three-quarter- and full-length portraits of Charles II and Catherine of Braganza were created in Lely's studio over a number of years. The heads in Colonial Williamsburg's pair derive from studies begun by Lely soon after the royal couple's marriage in 1662. Some of Lely's representations of Catherine show her in state robes and thus are considered official portraits. Somewhat oddly, no entirely corresponding images of the King are known; Charles II was only painted in state robes later, by Sir Godfrey Kneller, after Lely's death.
Frequently, those appointed to govern England's colonies brought with them portraits of reigning (and, sometimes, preceding) monarchs to be displayed in their colonial residences. After John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore and governor of Virginia, fled the colony in 1775, he claimed that he lost thereby "a number of Valuable Pictures by Sir Peter Lely." Exactly what those paintings were is a matter of conjecture, but they well may have included representations similar to Colonial Wililamsburg's portraits of Charles II and Catherine of Braganza.
The Portuguese infanta, Catherine of Braganza, was the third daughter of John IV of Portugal and Louisa de Gusman. Her marriage to Charles II helped secure the validity of the House of Braganza and sustain Portugal's recent independence from Spain. In turn, as dowry, England acquired Tangier, Bombay, and 300,000 pounds sterling.

ProvenanceOwnership prior to Hotspur (see "Vendor") is unknown.