Oil on canvas, unsigned, lined.

40 x 34 in., 45 1/2 x 40. in. (frame).

Note: This painting is based on the full-length portrait of the same title by Daniel Mytens now in the National Maritime Museum, London. This version shows several compositional differences including a different type of lace collar, the placement of the helmet, the addition of a ring on his left hand, and the use of blue in the background seascape. This seascape represents the royal fleet returning from an unsuccessful voyage to Spain with the mission to secure a marriage alliance between Prince Charles and the Spanish Infanta. According to the National Maritime Museum, Mytens copied this imagery from the 1623 painting by H.C. Vroom titled The Return of Prince Charles from Spain. The sitter, George Villiers, the First Duke of Buckingham, was a favorite and rumored lover of James I,and later a close advisor of Charles I. He was appointed Lord Admiral of the English Navy in 1619. In 1628, he was assassinated by a naval officer. Signifying his position, his effigy is in Westminster Abby.  The Duke of Buckingham was famously fictionalized by Alexander Dumas' in The Three Musketeers.

Our thanks to the Christie's London Archives who traced the numbering on the stretcher to their 1968 auction (see provenance below).

 

Lined. Craquelure with inpainting throughout, some in the face showing mostly lower left on the chin. An area of surface soiling lower left on the arm. Other surface soiling.