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Creator:
Samuel Cooper, 1609–1672
Title:

Charles Stuart, third Duke of Richmond and sixth Duke of Lennox

Additional Title(s):

Charles Stuart, 3rd Duke of Richmond and 6th Duke of Lennox

Charles Stuart, 3rd Duke of Richmond

Prince Rupert

Date:
between 1661 and 1667
Medium:
Watercolor and gouache with gold on parchment laid down on card
Dimensions:
Sheet: 2 3/4 x 2 1/4 inches (7 x 5.7 cm), Frame: 3 1/4 x 2 1/4 x 1/8 inches (8.3 x 5.7 x 0.3 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Engraved on back of locket center: "Prince Rupert"

Signed in gouache lower left: "SC"

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1974.2.14
Classification:
Drawings & Watercolors-Miniatures
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
portrait
Associated People:
Stuart, Charles, sixth duke of Lennox and third duke of Richmond (1639–1672), courtier and ambassador
Access:
Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details.
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:46623
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Cooper's talent for portraying likeness is supremely demonstrated in this exquisite miniature. Long misidentified, the sitter was correctly identified as Charles Stuart, 3rd Duke of Richmond and 6th Duke of Lennox (1639–72), by Patrick Noon (Noon, 1979, pp. 8–9). Noon recognized the close physical resemblance between the sitter in this work and that of Richmond in a full-length portrait painted by Sir Peter Lely (ca. 1661; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh). Close—almost exact—correspondence between a number of Cooper miniatures and large-scale oil portraits by Lely strongly suggests that the two artists (who lived near each other in Covent Garden) collaborated after the mid-1650s. Although the precise nature of their artistic partnership remains uncertain, it seems most likely that Lely turned to Cooper's portraits—many of which remained unfinished in his studio until his death (they were probably used by the miniaturist to make replicas)—in the creation of his full-scale oil portraits. In fact, among these unfinished works in his studio was a portrait of Richmond with “the face finished and the rest in sketch only” (Foskett, 1974, pp. 63–65). The present miniature, fully finished and signed in monogram, is certainly not that referred to above, but it may be a replica of this lost unfinished work. Painted probably around 1661, when Richmond was made Gentleman of the Bedchamber and Knight of the Order of the Garter, this portrait depicts him at the height of his career at court. Unfortunately, he did not live up to his political or military promise and is mainly remembered for his profligate love affairs. In 1667 he eloped with Frances Teresa Stuart (1647/8–1702), a choice of bride that proved perilous. His elopement with the well-known object of the king's—apparently unrequited—desire led to the couple's immediate banishment from court; they were allowed to return only after she recovered from a near-fatal case of smallpox. Notorious for his dissolute lifestyle, Richmond died in 1672, at the age of thirty-three, leaving his beautiful bride with a vast fortune and her freedom. Julia Marciari-Alexander John Baskett, Paul Mellon's Legacy: a Passion for British art: Masterpieces from the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, p. 243, cat. 6, N5220 M552 P38 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA)

An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Royal Academy of Arts, 2007-10-20 - 2008-01-27) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Paul Mellon's Legacy : A Passion for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

English Portrait Drawings & Miniatures (Yale Center for British Art, 1979-12-05 - 1980-02-17) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

John Baskett, Paul Mellon's Legacy: a Passion for British Art: Masterpieces from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, p. 243, cat. 6, N5220 M552 P38 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Bainbrigg Buckeridge, An Essay Towards an English School of Painters, J. Nutt, London, UK, 1706, p. 409-411, ND1130 P65 (YCBA) [YCBA]

John Dryden, A short account of the most eminent painters both ancient and modern, continued down to the present times, according to the order of their succession, De Arte Graphica/The Art of Painting, London, 1695, pp. 227-355, ND1130 D813 (RARE BOOKS, YCBA) [ORBIS]

Daphne Foskett, Samuel Cooper and His Contemporaries, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1974, NJ18 C7465 F67 + Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Maria Hayward, Stuart style : monarchy, dress and the Scottish male elite, Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, p. 121, fig. 4.14, GT1755.S3 H39 2020 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Andrew Moore, The Paston Treasure Microcosm of the Known World, Yale University Press, New Haven, p. 400, cat. 109, , NX543 .P37 2018 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Patrick Noon, English Portrait Drawings & Miniatures, Yale Center for British Art, 1979, p. 3, 4, no. 1, NC772 N66+ (Wall Shelf) (YCBA) [YCBA]

Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v. 2, no. 6, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Yale Center for British Art, Selected paintings, drawings & books, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1977, p. 2, N590.2 A82 (YCBA) [YCBA]


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