Samuel Cooper, Portrait of a Woman, Probably Miss Alice Fanshawe, 1647

Chicago:

Blythe Sobol, “Samuel Cooper, Portrait of a Woman, Probably Miss Alice Fanshawe, 1647,” catalogue entry in Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Blythe Sobol, and Maggie Keenan, The Starr Collection of Portrait Miniatures, 1500–1850: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, vol. 2, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024), https://doi.org/10.37764/8322.5.1202.

MLA:

Sobol, Blythe. “Samuel Cooper, Portrait of a Woman, Probably Miss Alice Fanshawe, 1647,” catalogue entry. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Blythe Sobol, and Maggie Keenan. The Starr Collection of Portrait Miniatures, 1500–1850: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, edited by Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, vol. 2, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024. doi: 10.37764/8322.5.1202

See the artist’s biography in volume 4.

Although previously unidentified, the sitter in this miniature by Samuel Cooper is likely Miss Alice Fanshawe (1633–1662). Recent provenance discoveries trace the miniature back to its first recorded owner, Fanshawe’s niece Susanna Noel (née Fanshawe, 1661–1714), from whom the miniature passed by descent.¹ The daughter of Thomas Fanshawe of Jenkins and Susanna Otten, Alice Fanshawe was fourteen years old when she sat for Cooper in 1647.² That year was significant for the Fanshawe family, who fought for King Charles I in the English Civil War (1642–1651). By 1647, the king’s coalition had collapsed.³ His supporters, including Fanshawe’s father and brother, fled to the European continent. Fanshawe’s mother later followed them to France, apparently to convince them to return to England to recover the family estate, which had been seized by Parliament for their support of the deposed monarchy.⁴ Such losses—and their hard-won recoveries—were profoundly felt by members of the British aristocracy whose feudal identities were closely intertwined with the soil of their ancestral domains. Alice’s portrait may have been commissioned as a memento for her father in exile or to mark the restoration of the family’s estate in Jenkins and Barking, Essex.

Cooper depicts the sitter before a window, a framing device he may have borrowed from his uncle and teacher, John Hoskins (ca. 1590–1665). Hoskins included windows in the backgrounds of his miniatures beginning in the 1640s. The window opens up the picture plane, with the wide blue sky evoking the nobility’s ties to the British landscape, a motif that the painter Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788) would explore in the next century.

Fanshawe is demurely dressed in a square-necked white silk dress, draped with a blue sash that mirrors the slice of sky to her right. Cooper deftly pools wavy gradations of watercolor to mimic the rich folds of shimmering blue and white fabrics. The sash resembles those worn by recipients of the Order of the Garter, echoing the sitter’s Royalist ties. Blue and white, along with Fanshawe’s pearl necklace, evoke depictions of the Virgin Mary and thus symbolize nobility and purity—appropriate virtues for a genteel young lady approaching marriageable age.

Fanshawe is draped in blue once more in an oil portrait attributed to Sir Peter Lely (1618–1680), which was likely commissioned prior to her engagement to her cousin John Fanshawe of Parsloes.⁵ They married in 1659 and had two children, a daughter, Susanna, and a son, John. Alice died soon after John’s birth and was buried at Barking on April 24, 1662.⁶ Sometime afterward, her portrait by Cooper was inherited by her niece Susanna Fanshawe (1661–1714), whose son Baptist Noel (1684–1714) became the Earl of Gainsborough.⁷

Commissioned at a time when the Fanshawe family was trying to restore their estate, Fanshawe’s portrait was later sold for similar reasons.⁸ The miniature remained in the Noel family until it was sold at the turn of the twentieth century by Charles William Francis Noel, Earl of Gainsborough (1850–1926).⁹ After centuries of profiting from landed wealth, peers like Gainsborough began to see diminishing returns on their crumbling estates. The ensuing sales of their art collections tidily coincided with the rise of the American robber barons, who modeled themselves on the British aristocracy and sought to fill their homes with ancestral portraits to bolster their lack of pedigree. The financier J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913) personified this type of acquisitive magnate, adding Fanshawe’s portrait to his voluminous collection of miniatures sometime before 1906.¹⁰ Morgan’s miniatures, including this one, were sold at a landmark Christie’s sale in 1935, just as John W. and Martha Jane Starr were coming into their own as collectors.¹¹

Notes

1. After its purchase by J. Pierpont Morgan through an intermediary “Bond Street dealer” by 1906, the miniature was titled Portrait of Miss Alice Fanshawe, perhaps due to family lore or an assumption on the part of George Williamson, who researched Morgan’s collection. George Williamson, Catalogue of the Collection of Miniatures: The Property of J. Pierpont Morgan (London: Chiswick Press, 1906–8), 1:96.

2. The hereditary title “of Jenkins” was customary for the head of this branch of the Fanshawe family, also recorded as “2nd of Jenkins.” Likewise, “of Parsloes” and “2nd of Parsloes” was the title held by Anne Fanshawe’s husband. H. C. Fanshawe, The History of the Fanshawe Family (Newcastle upon Tyne: A. Reid, 1927), 236–38.

3. For an overview of the English Civil War, see Mark Kishlansky, A Monarchy Transformed: Britain, 1603–1714 (London: Penguin Books, 1997), 13–239.

4. Thomas Fanshawe compounded (paid a fine to recover his sequestered estates) under the Barnstaple Articles, returning to England in 1647 and forfeiting “£1300 at the rate of 1/10 of his estate” along with a settlement of “£80 per annum on the ministers of West Ham and Low Leighton.” Royalists who had compounded also had to vow never to take up arms against Parliament again. The fines were typically proportionate to the value of the estate. Herbert Charles Fanshawe, ed., The Memoirs of Ann, Lady Fanshawe (London: J. Lane, 1907), 312. See also Fanshawe, History of the Fanshawe Family, 237; and Basil Duke Henning, ed., The History of Parliament: The House of Commons, 1660–1690 (London: Secker and Warburg, 1983), 302. On compounding, see Stephen C. Manganiello, “Committee for Compounding with Delinquents,” The Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland and Ireland, 1639–1660 (Oxford: Scarecrow Press, 2004), 125.

5. Sir Peter Lely (attr.), Alice Fanshawe (1633–1662), Wife of John Fanshawe, 2nd of Parsloes, Valence House Museum, London (LDVAL2), https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/alice-fanshawe-16331662-wife-of-john-fanshawe-2nd-of-parsloes-133523.

6. Fanshawe, The History of the Fanshawe Family, 255.

7. Susanna Noel (née Fanshawe, 1661–1714), the daughter of Alice Fanshawe’s brother Sir Thomas Fanshawe (1628–1705) and Margaret Heath (1635–1674), married Baptist Noel (1658–1690) around 1683. Their son, also named Baptist Noel (1684–1714), became the 3rd Earl of Gainsborough after his cousin Wriothesley Noel, 2nd Earl of Gainsborough (ca. 1661–1690), died without a direct male heir. Henning, History of Parliament, 141–44.

8. The Noel estate was endangered by rising debts by the 1840s. A letter written to the estate auditor at that time, George Loch, suggested that “nothing but a general and decided retrenchment of expenditure on the part of everyone concerned can save this family from immediate ruin.” Correspondence of George Loch, Estate Management: Exton Estate, DE3214/6899–6965, quoted in the description of the Records of the Noel Family, Earls of Gainsborough and Viscounts Campden, of Exton, Rutland and Chipping Campden, Glos., The Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland, Leicester City Council, Wigston, http://record-office-catalogue.leics.gov.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=X.

9. These circumstances are skillfully chronicled by David Cannadine in The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990).

10. According to G. C. Williamson, who published the catalogue of Morgan’s collection of miniatures, the portrait was acquired by a “Bond Street dealer.” This could be the firm of Duveen Brothers, who had premises at 22 Bond Street and frequently worked with Morgan. One anecdote demonstrates that Morgan was buying miniatures from the Duveens and also illustrates his shrewdness as a collector. Joseph Duveen, who felt that Morgan was holding back from purchases, presented a tray of thirty miniatures, with six masterpieces and twenty-four mediocre works, priced as a lot. Morgan glanced at them and asked for the total. Duveen delightedly named his sum, and Morgan pocketed the six and divided Duveen’s price by thirty, paying a deflated Duveen the prorated fee. Jean Strouse, Morgan: American Financier (New York: Random House, 1999), 381.

11. The miniature was purchased by one A. Walker at the sale of the collection of Morgan’s son, John Pierpont “Jack” Morgan Jr. (1867–1943): “The Famous Collection of Miniatures of the British and Foreign Schools: the Property of J. Pierpont Morgan, Esq.,” Christie’s, London, February 24, 1935, lot 23. The identity of A. Walker is unknown, nor do we know how the Starrs acquired the miniature, but it was in their collection before it was given to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in 1958.

Inherited by the sitter’s niece, Susanna Noel (née Fanshawe, 1661–1714), by 1705 [1];

By descent to Charles William Noel, 3rd Earl of Gainsborough (1850–1926), Exton Hall, Rutland, England;

Purchased from Noel by a “Bond Street dealer,” London, before 1906 [2];

Purchased from said “Bond Street dealer” by John Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913), London and New York, before 1906 [3];

By descent to his son, John Pierpont Morgan Jr. (1867–1943), London and New York, by 1913 [4];

Purchased at his sale, The Famous Collection of Miniatures of the British and Foreign Schools: the Property of J. Pierpont Morgan, Esq., Christie’s, London, February 24, 1935, lot 23, by A. Walker, 1935 [5];

Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, by 1958;

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1958.

Notes

[1] G.C. Williamson wrote, “It was [Alice Fanshawe’s] daughter Susan who married Lord Gainsborough, and hence the portrait was transferred to Exton, where it remained until the present Lord Gainsborough parted with it.” In fact, Fanshawe’s daughter Susanna died in infancy; the portrait was almost certainly given to Fanshawe’s niece, also named Susanna (1661–1714), the only child and heir of Alice Fanshawe’s brother Sir Thomas Fanshawe (1628–1705). Susanna married Baptist Noel (1658–1690) around 1683. Their son Baptist Noel (1684–1714) became the 3rd earl of Gainsborough after his cousin Wriothesley Noel, 2nd Earl of Gainsborough (ca. 1661–1690), died without a direct male heir. George Williamson, Catalogue of the Collection of Miniatures: The Property of J. Pierpont Morgan (London: Chiswick Press, 1906–1908), 1:96. The circumstances of her inheritance—which was the result of a legal error, as Susanna had received a marriage settlement and the estate was intended to be inherited by a male cousin—are detailed in H.C. Fanshawe, The History of the Fanshawe Family (Newcastle upon Tyne: A. Reid, 1927), 242.

[2] “[. . . ] It was in this way that the miniature [Portrait of John Fanshawe of Parsloes] (see also No. 106 [Portrait of Miss Alice Fanshawe] and No. 58) came into the possession of the Earls of Gainsborough. It was sold from Exton by the present earl [Charles William Noel was 3rd Earl of Gainsborough from 1881 until his death in 1926] to a Bond Street dealer, and from him passed to the Pierpont Morgan Collection.” Williamson, Catalogue of the Collection of Miniatures, 96. Fragments of an 1896 calendar found inside the case suggest that the miniature could have been treated to prepare it for sale as early as 1896, either to the “Bond Street dealer” or to Morgan, but there is no further evidence to confirm this. We must assume that it was sold sometime between 1896 and 1906, when it was featured in the catalogue of Morgan’s collection published by Williamson in that year.

[3] Daphne Foskett, who was a frequent correspondent with the Starrs and was familiar with their collection, lists the portrait as “Ex Pierpont Morgan Coll, / Starr Collection, Kansas City.” Daphne Foskett, Samuel Cooper (London: Faber and Faber, 1974), 109.

[4] Per the introduction to the Christie’s sale catalogue (not paginated), “[The collection] was thus brought together in Mr. Pierpont Morgan’s London House in Princes Gate, where it remained for several years until its removal to New York. Now it has returned to London.” The Famous Collection of Miniatures of the British and Foreign Schools: the Property of J. Pierpont Morgan, Esq., which will be sold at auction by Messrs. Christie, Manson, and Woods … on Monday, June 24, 1935 (London: Christie’s, 1935).

[5] The lot was described in the catalogue as follows: “Portrait of Alice Fanshawe, married her cousin, John Fanshawe, esq. of Parsloes […] signed with the initials S.C. and dated 1647. From the collection of the Earl of Gainsborough, at Exton. Described in Dr. G.C. Williamson’s Catalogue, vol. 1, No. 106.”

Samuel Cooper, Unknown Woman, ­­­1647, watercolor on vellum, 2 3/8 x 2 in. (6.03 x 5.1 cm), Richard Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch and 12th Duke of Queensberry, Bowhill House, Selkirk, Scotland.

Samuel Cooper and His Contemporaries, National Portrait Gallery, London, February 6–May 12, 1974, no. 25, as Portrait of an Unknown Lady.

George Williamson, Catalogue of the Collection of Miniatures: The Property of J. Pierpont Morgan (London: Chiswick Press, 1906–1908), 1:96, (repro.).

The Famous Collection of Miniatures of the British and Foreign Schools: the Property of J. Pierpont Morgan, Esq. (London: Christie, Manson, and Woods, February 24, 1935), 15.

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 265.

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 9, p. 11, (repro.), as Unknown Lady.

Daphne Foskett, National Portrait Gallery, Samuel Cooper and His Contemporaries, exh. cat. (London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1974), 15, (repro.).

Daphne Foskett, Samuel Cooper (London: Faber and Faber, 1974), 109.

Stephen Lloyd, Portrait Miniatures from the Collection of the Duke of Buccleuch (Edinburgh: Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1996), 81.