Portrait of Lady Elizabeth Drury

An oil on canvas portrait of Lady Elizabeth Drury

c. 1610

An oil on canvas portrait of Lady Elizabeth Drury (English, 1595-1610) painted by Dutch artist Paul van Somer (1576-1621). Lady Elizabeth is depicted reclining on a gilded Jacobean daybed, her right hand leaning against a white silk pillow and her left hand holding a black book. She wears a heavy gold embroidered red silk dress over a flowered silk blouse accented with red bows, and her stiff lace collar frames her pale white face. Her blondish-red hair is beneath a lace and silk veil. Dark draperies frame the interior scene in the background. Inscribed on the lower left with "Eliz: Daugther of Sr. Robt. Drury Died 1610 Aged 15" and the lower right with "Her pure and eloquent blood / spoke in her cheeks, and so distinctly wrought / That one might almost say her body thought. - Upon the untimely death of Mistress Elizabeth Drury / by Doctor John Donne Dean of St. Paul's School London."

Paul van Somer (Dutch, 1576-1621) was a history and portrait painter. He worked in Antwerp, Amsterdam with van Mander, and in England, especially London where he made his career as a painter to the Royal family (Charles I, Henry, Prince of Wales, Elisabeth, Countess of Southhampton). Lady Elizabeth Drury (1595-1610) was the daughter of Sir Robert Drury of Hawstead Place, Suffolk. She was betrothed to Prince Henry, eldest son of James I. An alabaster monument to her in the same posture is in the Parish Church of Hawstead in Suffolk. John Donne gave Lady Drury's funeral oration.

English

Oil on canvas

47" x 72"

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Claus von Bulow, 1974.

PSNC.2610