Johannes Priwitzer Sold at Auction Prices

Attributed to Johannes Priwitzer (Hungarian, fl. 1626-1635) - Portrait of Lettice Knollys - oil on oak panel

Attributed to Johannes Priwitzer (Hungarian, fl. 1626-1635) Portrait of a lady, traditionally believed to be Lettice Knollys, Lady Hampden (b.1613), half length, in a red dress with lace collar, wearing pearls, in a painted stone oval inscribed upper left "1632 / Aetatis Suae / 19" oil on oak panel h:68 w:52 cm Provenance: By descent from the sitter to: The Countess of Buckinghamshire, Hampden House, Great Hampden, Buckinghamshire (according to an old label on the reverse) and by descent; Christie's, London, where acquired by the present owner Other Notes: Lettice Knollys was the second wife of John Hampden, the English statesman (circa 1595-1643). The long black cord disappearing into her bodice would have a ring attached to it, a gift or bequest which did not fit her finger but which she wanted to wear as a souvenir of the donor. An attribution to Johannes Priwitzer (fl.1626-1635) has been suggested as the handling can be compared to that in the group of portraits of members of the Russell family at Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, one of which is signed and dated Johannes Priwitzer de Hungaria 1627. Priwitzer is documented as being in London between 1627 and 1635, and Horace Walpole observed in his "Anecdotes of Painting in England" of 1762 that Priwitzer "painted with great brightness and neatness, and does not want freedom".