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| Artist | After Dyck, Anthony van (Flemish painter, 1599-1641, active in England) |
| Previous attributions | Previously attributed to school of Dyck, Anthony van (Flemish painter, 1599-1641, active in England) Previously attributed to British School |
| Title | Portrait of James, 7th Earl of Derby |
| Alternative/previous titles | James, Earl of Derby; Lord Francis of Villiers |
| Date earliest | about 1636 |
| Date latest | possibly 1700 |
| Material | oil on canvas |
| Measurements | 76.2 x 63.6 cm |
| Inscription | front ul 'James Earl of Derby Beheaded at Bolton Oct: 15th 1651.' |
| Description | This portrait is a copy taken from a Van Dyck painting of James Stanley, the 7th Earl of Derby, ancestor of several early twentieth-century University Chancellors. As mentioned in the upper left corner of the portrait, James was beheaded in 1651 for his loyalty to Charles I. He helped the King escape from Worcester, before surrendering himself to parliamentarian troops. James’ record in the Civil War was ambiguous; although he successfully defended the Isle of Man as a royalist refuge, his estates in Lancashire, which he had worked so hard as a young man to rebuild, suffered from neglect. |
| Subject | portrait (Stanley, James) |
| Collection | University of Liverpool Art Gallery |
| Current accession number | 1312 |
| Acquisition details | Given by the Stanley family after 1934 and before 1977 (possibly). |
| Notes | Reverse on frame ur handwritten label '4726'; on stretcher uc round handwritten label 'no. 3/ Room 10'; on stretcher cr old handwritten label '5792 / £1100'; on canvas lc white paint '61^ 1850'; on canvas lr black paint '61 1850'; on stetcher lr Harriet Hughes conservator label; on frame lc J. Davey & Sons framemakers label, see inv. no. 469 for transcription. Accessioned in 1977 as British School. Attributed to Van Dyck School by Sotheby's, 1978. Attributed to after Van Dyck by Sotheby's in 1997 insurance report with title Portrait of Lord Francis Villiers. The head is very similar to that in Van Dyck, James Stanley with his wife and daughter, c. 1636, New York, Frick Collection, (13.I.40), copies of which are at the National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG 90, as after Van Dyck; and at the Manx Museum and National Trust, Douglas Isle of Man, as Van Dyck studio. For other copies see Barnes. J. S. and others, Van Dyck: a complete catalogue of the paintings, New Haven, 2004, cat. no. IV.87, pp. 498-99. The Liverpool canvas does not replicate the background of the Frick painting suggesting it was adapted to match the painting of James's son Charles also at Liverpool, see inv. no. 1313. For probable provenance see inv. no. 1313. For information on James Stanley see DNB and J. J. Bagley, The Earls of Derby 1485-1985, London, 1985. |
| Rights status | University of Liverpool Art Gallery and Collections |
| Author | Dr Phillippa Plock |
