Terms and conditions of use
Mary, Lady Vere
(c. 1612-1615)
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
183.0 × 102.0 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased with funds donated by Leigh Clifford AO and Sue Clifford, Alan and Mavourneen Cowen, the Fox Family Foundation, donors to the Larkin Appeal and the proceeds of the National Gallery of Victoria Annual Dinner, 2014
Gallery location
17th Century & Flemish Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
William Larkin is among the most enigmatic and accomplished portrait painters of Jacobean England. Larkin’s portraits convey the status and wealth of his sitters and the outward image they wished to project. The sitter here is Mary, Lady Vere (1581–1671), a highly distinguished member of the aristocracy whose wealth is signified by the deep black fabric she wears; the rich dyes needed to create this dark hue were prohibitively expensive at the time. The Turkish carpet and a richly draped table are very typical of Larkin’s compositions, such as his much celebrated series of nine full-length portraits formerly in the collection of the Earls of Suffolk, and now at Kenwood House, London.
Artwork Details
Accession Number
2014.553
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Dame Carol Colburn-Grigor CBE through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Portraits Textile
Subjects (specific)
cuffs (costume components) drapery (representations) full-length figures lace (needlework) nobles (aristocrats) ruffs social status women (female humans)
Movements
Jacobean (culture or period)