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| Title | Portrait of the Honorable Mrs Lucy Loftus | |
| Collection | Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery | |
| Artist | Studio of Lely, Peter (Dutch painter and draftsman, 1618-1680, active in England) | |
| Date | 1667 | |
| Description | The sitter is the Hon. Lucy Brydges, daughter of George Brydges, 6th Lord Chandos of Sudeley. She married Adam Loftus, later first Viscount Lisburne, who died in 1691 when his peerage became extinct. This is a studio copy of an original, sold at Christie's in 1886. Lely portrayed his sitters not in ordinary day wear but in the loose, informal dress which would have been worn indoors. In this way, he lent a timeless, classical quality to the changing contemporary fashions which tended to date portraits. |
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| Current Accession Number | 1941P338 | |
| Former Accession Number | P.338'41 | |
| Inscription | front ll ' Mrs Jenny Deering 1667' | |
| Subject | portrait (Loftus, Mrs Lucy) | |
| Measurements | 127.0 x 101.6 cm cm (estimate) | |
| Material | oil on canvas | |
| Acquisition Details | Given with the aid of the Public Picture Gallery Fund 1941. | |
| Provenance | Earl of Home; Solly (dealer); Alexander Reid, 1921; Christie's, 16 July 1937, lot 123. | |
| Publications | Beckett, R. B., Peter Lely, 1951, p. 51; Catalogue of Paintings in Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery, 1930; Catalogue of Paintings in Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery, 1960 | |
| Notes | The original, of which this picture is a studio copy, passed to the Wharton family through the marriage of the sitter's daughter Lucy to Thomas, 1st Marquess of Wharton, and then to Sir Robert Walpole. It was sold at Cholmondeley Sale, Christie's, 10 July 1886, lot 212. It was twice engraved; first about 1680 by Alexander Browne with the title Madame Lucy Loftus; secondly in 1757 by Charles Townley entitled Jenny Deering, mistress of the Duke of Wharton. It was reproduced in Les Arts, Feb 1907, p. 3 as from the collection fo Mme. Armand de Caillavet, and inscribed 'Mrs Loftis'. Another version inscribed 'Jenny Deering' belongs to Lord Bolton. | |
| Rights Owner | Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery | |
| Author | Dr Patricia Smyth | |