Lot 5: John Baptist Closterman (Osnabrück 1660-1713 London) Portrait of David Papillon (1691-1762), in a carved giltwood frame

Portrait of David Papillon (1691-1762), standing full-length, holding a bow and quiver, a spaniel at his side
oil on canvas
126 x 99.2cm (49 5/8 x 39 1/16in).
in a carved giltwood frame

PROVENANCE:
By descent through the sitter's family
Acrise Place, Folkestone, Kent,
Sale, John German Auctioneers, 11 December 1985, lot 524

LITERATURE:
A. Oswald, 'Acrise Place Kent', Country Life, 15 August 1957, p. 303. illus. fig. 10 (as by Michael Dahl)

Another version of the present portrait, attributed to Sir John Baptist Medina, was offered at Christie's New York, 15 October, 1998, lot 12.

David Papillon was the grandson of the French Huguenot and military engineer, David Papillon, who built Papillon Hall, Leicestershire, between 1622 and 1624. Known locally as 'Pamp' or 'Old Pamp', the younger David Papillon was believed to have been in league with the Devil. It was said that he kept a Spanish mistress at the Hall, whom he later murdered, and was purported to have had psychic powers.

Acrise Place, near Folkestone in Kent, came into the possession of the Papillon family in 1666 when it was purchased by Thomas Papillon.