Queries.
PICTURES FROM LORD VANE'S COLLECTION.
My family became possessed of six fine portraits at the death of Lord Vane, husband to that lady of unenviable notoriety, a sketch of whose life (presented by her own hand to the author) is inserted, under the title "Adventures of a Lady of Quality," in Peregrine Pickle. I quote from my
relation who knew the facts.[[2]] Lord Vane was the last of his race, and died at Fairlawn, Kent, probably about the latter half of the last century.[[3]] The successor to his fortune selected a few pictures, and left the remaining, of which mine formed a part, to his principal agent. Amateurs say they are by Sir Peter Lely: a fact I should be glad to establish. I have searched Windsor Castle, Hampton Court, and Knowle Park collections in vain for duplicates.
No. 1. is a young man in what appears to be a court dress, exhibiting armour beneath the folds of the drapery. Point lace neck-tie. 2. Do., in brocaded silk and fringed dress. Point lace neck-tie and ruffles. A spaniel introduced, climbing up his knee. 3. A youth sitting under a tree, with pet lamb. Point lace neck-tie and ruffles, but of simple dress. 4. A lady in flowing drapery. Pearls in her hair and round her neck, sitting under a tree. An orange blossom in her hand. 5. A lady seated in an apartment with marble columns. Costume similar to No. 4, minus the pearls in the hair. A kind of wreath in her hand. 6. A lady in simple, flowing drapery, without jewellery, save a broach or clasp on her left shoulder; holding a flower in her right hand. In all, the background is very dark, but trees and buildings can be traced through the gloom. The hands are models, and beautifully painted. Size of pictures, divested of their carved and gilt frames, four feet two inches by three feet four inches. If any of your readers can, from this description, give me any clue to the name of the artist, it will greatly oblige and be duly appreciated by an elderly spinster.
S. D.
Footnote 2:[(return)]
[A correspondent in the Gentleman's Magazine for May, 1789, p. 403., who was intimately acquainted with Lord and Lady Vane, states that "though Dr. Smollet was as willing as he was able to embellish his works with stories marvellous, yet he did not dress up Lady Vane's story of her Lord. She wrote it as well as she could herself, and Dr. Shebbeare put it in its present form at her ladyship's request."
Lord Vane died April 5, 1789, at his house in Downing Street, Westminster. He was great-grandson of that inflexible republican, Sir Henry Vane, executed on Tower Hill, June 14, 1662.—Ed.]