17th

century

Oil on canvas

Flemish

Portrait of George Stuart, Seigneur d'Aubigny (1618 - 1642)

Dyck, Anthony van (1599-1641)

The sitter was an important figure in the English Civil War, fighting on the Royalist side, and killed at the Battle of Edgehill, Warwickshire, 23rd October, 1642, while commanding the Duke of York’s troop in the Prince of Wales’ Regiment of Horse. In Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion, (vol. 2, p. 368), he was described as ‘a gentleman of great hopes, of a gentle and winning disposition, and a very clear courage’. The sitter was the third son of Esmé Stuart, 3rd Duke of Lennox, and through his Lennox ancestry, he was a second cousin of King James VI of Scotland and I of England.   In 1632, George Stuart succeeded to the Seigneuralty of Aubigny in the dukedom of Berry. This meant that much of his early life was spent in France where he converted to Roman Catholicism. The suggested date of his return to England was c1637-38, at which time he was painted by Van Dyck. In the other version of the sitter by Van Dyck in the National Portrait Gallery, London, he is shown in fanciful dress in blue and amber and appears in a slightly more melancholy mood. Van Dyck also painted the sitter’s brothers, notably his older brother, James Stuart, 4th Duke of Lennox and 1st Duke of Richmond.  The half-length is at Kenwood House, London and the full-length in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.   Two other brothers, Lord John Stuart and Lord Bernard Stuart, later Earl of Lichfield, appear in Van Dyck’s double portrait in the National Gallery, London, of c1637 and again in a double portrait of c1638 in the same gallery.

Schorr Collection, UK / © The Schorr Collection / Bridgeman Images

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