To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com



William Larkin was one of the most accomplished portrait painters of the early seventeenth century and represents the zenith of the ruff-clad, theatrically excessive appearances that the period was capable of.

The present work is one of the latest additions to Larkin’s oeuvre and reveals his characteristic combination of subtle flesh tones, slightly dome-shaped physiognomy, and near-obsessive attention to detail in the ruff. Until recently, these identifying stylistic traits were concealed by multiple layers of overpaint, discoloured varnish and surface dirt which flattened the picture plane and heavily reduced the illusion of perspective for which Larkin is celebrated (Fig.1). Now removed, the crisp detailing of the costume and the highly realistic depiction of the sitter’s face can be again enjoyed.

Although the actual whereabouts of this painting was unknown until recently, it was recorded in an old black and white photograph from when it appeared at auction in New York in 1916 (Fig.2).[1] It is clear from the photograph that it had been clumsily ‘restored’ with areas of the face, such as the eyebrows, artificially strengthened resulting in an altogether different facial expression. Larkin was a name unfamiliar to the vast majority of art historians in the early twentieth century, so it is hardly surprising that in the 1916 sale it was attributed to a better-known artist of the period named Federico Zuccaro, an Italian-born painter who visited England in the 1570s and painted, amongst other notable sitters, Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. What is perhaps more surprising is that the sitter was identified as Hernán Cortés, the Spanish conquistador who conquered Mexico and died in 1547.

Our unknown sitter is shown wearing a costly black silk doublet and fine multi-layered ruff, the style of which allows us to date the portrait to c.1615.[2] The artist has delighted in the intricacy of the ruff and on close inspection one marvels at the delicacy with which he has painted the tiny triangular detailing along the edge of each fold. This type of ruff was sometimes known as a ‘shagged, ragged’ ruff as the folds are not set into figure-of-eight patterns. By varying the shape and position of each fold, the artist emphasises this irregularity and creates depth, heightening the illusion of three dimensions. This playful deception of depth is repeated in the painted stone frame in which our subject is placed. This visual conceit is typical of Larkin’s work from this date; a similar design can be seen around the portrait of Gray Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos in the collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Fig.3).

Larkin is thought to have been born in around 1580 in the parish of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate.[3] Very little is known for certain about his early life, although it seems likely he was the son of William Larkin, a baker and host of the Rose Inn in Holborn.[4] In 1606 he was awarded the freedom of the City of London by redemption in the Company of the Painter Stainers; his sponsors were Lady Arabella Stuart (1575–1615) and Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (1539– 1621). Although Larkin evidently had the support of wealthy patrons by this date, membership of the guild would have furthered his ability to network within the upper strata of society and would have provided the necessary contacts with whom he could collaborate when required.

One of Larkin’s great supporters in these early years was Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset, whose famously extravagant lifestyle and fondness of fine clothing was immortalised in Larkin’s iconic full-length portrait. Shown standing with hand on hip, Dorset is probably wearing the costume he donned to the marriage of Princess Elizabeth to the Elector Palantine on 14 February 1613, which, according to one commentator, ‘dazzled the eyes of all who saw’.[5] The portrait of Dorset is one of nine portraits in the Suffolk Collection by Larkin, all of which reveal the same degree of precision in the painting of the subject and their costume.

Like most portrait painters from this date, Larkin never signed his work and only a very small number of documented works by his hand survive. The most notable is a portrait of the soldier, diplomat and religious philosopher Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury, which was first connected to Larkin by the historian James Lees-Milne in 1952.[6] Through comparison with this work, the art historian Sir Roy Strong was able to attribute the aforementioned set of nine portraits from the Suffolk Collection to Larkin’s hand, as well as others which showed stylistic similarities. Since then, a combination of modern scientific analysis and connoisseurship has further expanded Larkin’s oeuvre which now includes around sixty portraits in oils of varying size and subject matter.

[1] We are grateful to Dr Edward Town for providing further information on the provenance of this work.

[2] We are grateful to Jacqui Ansell, Senior Lecturer Christie’s Education, for her assistance when researching the costume.

[3] Town, E. (2014) ‘A Biographical Dictionary of London Painters, 1547–1625’, The Walpole Society, Vol. LXXVI, p. 127.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Quoted in Hearn, K. (1995). Dynasties: Painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530–1630. London: Tate Publishing. p. 199.

[6] Ibid.