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| Title | Portrait of Richard Fox | |
| Collection | Touchstones Rochdale Art Gallery | |
| Artist | After Corvus, Hans (Netherlandish painter, active 1512-after 1544) | |
| Date Earliest | probably about 1518 | |
| Date Latest | about 1600 | |
| Description | Richard Fox, born 1448, became Bishop of Exeter in 1487, of Bath and Wells in 1492, of Durham in 1494, and of Winchester in 1501. He founded Corpus Christi College, Oxford in 1517. Around 1518 he went blind and portraits after this date show the bishop with his eyes closed, as in this portrait. This painting follows closely a celebrated portrait by Joannes Corvus in Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The Rochdale image follows Corvus' treatment of the black-capped head of the bishop and the dress, but omits the hands and staff of the bishop and introduces a parapet and a different inscription. The Rochdale image also differs from Corvus' painting in including the bishop's coat of arms to the left of his head and a cartellino, devoid of lettering, to the right of the bishop's head. Corvus painted his portrait of the Bishop, apparently between about 1518, when the bishop went blind, the state in which he appears to be in the portrait, and 1522, the date inscribed on two portraits, apparently after Corvus' painting in Corpus Christi, at Sudley Castle and Magdalene College, Oxford. A considerable number of portraits after Corvus' painting were executed in the following century, including probably the Rochdale painting. | |
| Current Accession Number | ROCDG:1226 | |
| Inscription | front lc 'Richard Fox - Olim Episcopvs Winton. Ensis Collegii Corporis Christi. Oxon Fvndator Munificentiss Imvs.' | |
| Subject | portrait (Fox, Richard) | |
| Measurements | 54 x 40 cm (estimate) | |
| Material | oil on panel | |
| Acquisition Details | Transferred from Heywood Library 1974. | |
| Provenance | Given by Thomas Kay to Heywood Library 1912. | |
| Publications | Kay, Thomas., Descriptive Catalogue of Pictures, Heywood Municipal Art Gallery and Museum, 1911, cat. no. VI, p. 30 as by an unknown artist. | |
| Notes | Described in the Kay Bequest catalogue as simply artist unknown, the painting was attributed by Christie's in 1991 to a follower of Johannes (Hans) Corvus. In 2000 Phillips attributed the work to an unknown artist of the English school. In a letter to Rochdale Art Gallery, dated 3 February, 1978, Godfrey Evans (Dept. Museum Studies, University of Manchester) notes 'another Portrait of Richard Foxe (National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG 874) which is a late 16th century copy after Corvus' original portrait'. This work is interesting because it 'includes the arms of the bishop which are partly defaced on the Rochdale panel. The two coats of arms are described in Strong, R., Tudor and Jacobean Portraiture, London, 1969, vol.I, p.125, which reproduces photographs of both the NPG and Corvus paintings; ibid.,vol.II, pls. 249 and 250'. Descriptive notes taken from: Poole, Mrs. Reginald, Catalogue of Portraits in the Possession of the University, Colleges, City and County of Oxford, II, 1927, p.261-5 and p.213. | |
| Rights Owner | Touchstones Rochdale Art Gallery | |
| Author | Lisa Howard | |