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Portrait of an Unknown Lady William Larkin

Artist

William Larkin London, ca. 1585 – London, 1619

Culture British, English
Date Ca. 1612–1616
Object type painting
Medium, technique oil on oak
Dimensions

57.5 × 44.1 cm

Inventory number 2017.1
Collection Old Master Paintings
On view Museum of Fine Arts, First Floor, European Art 1600–1700 and British Painting 1600–1800, Cabinet 15

William Larkin received portrait commissions from the court of King James I of England and members of the country gentry. The model of this portrait is wearing an ornately decorated, deep-cut black dress with a magnificent lace collar and fashionable pearl jewellery, which ensemble was a characteristic attire of noble ladies in the Jacobean period. Larkin’s style of portraiture had its roots in the Elizabethan painterly tradition: his figures are presented with highly idealised facial features, in intricately patterned garments, whose flat, decorative details play an emphatic role in the picture. During his brief career, Larkin also proved increasingly innovative at combining the local, archaic tradition of portraiture with new influences from the continent, making him an outstanding example of the change in British painting that took place at the start of the seventeenth century.

This record is subject to revision due to ongoing research.

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