Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington and 2nd Earl of Cork

Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington and 2nd Earl of Cork, by Sir Anthony van Dyck, based on a work of circa 1640 -NPG 893 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Early Stuart Portraits Catalogue

Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington and 2nd Earl of Cork

possibly after Sir Anthony van Dyck
based on a work of circa 1640
20 in. x 15 in. (508 mm x 381 mm)
NPG 893

This portraitback to top

The original three-quarter length portrait by Van Dyck is in the Devonshire Collection, listed by Millar in 2004 [1] as at Eamsley Hall, W Yorks, and previously at Chiswick [2] (having passed, presumably, through the sitter’s gr. gr. s., the 3rd Earl of Burlington, d. 1753, whose dau m. the 4th Duke of Devonshire, d. 1764), and at Lismore Castle. [3]
A kit-cat sized copy at Knole by Jonathan Richardson (the elder?), was long thought to show Milton, whose name is inscribed upon it. [4] Reduced copies are the oval panel at Chatsworth [5] and that sold Christie’s, 18 June 1954, lot 95, ex Marquess of Queensbury). A drawing formerly in A. H. Sutherland’s collection, was engraved bust-length from a drawing by W. N. Gardiner finished by B. Reading, published by T. Rodd 1816 ‘from the picture at Chiswick’, see above. [6]

Footnotesback to top

1) Millar 2004, p 452, iv 35. Hawkesbury 1903, p 15; Liverpool 1906, p 7.
2) Sir William Musgrave, MS lists of portraits, British Museum 5726E, i, f.15, no.12.
3) Illus. Country Life, 6 August 1964, p 340.
4) Cf. C. J. Phillips, History of the Sackville Family, 1929, II, p 438. Millar 2004, p 452; exhibited First Exhibition of National Portraits, South Kensington, 1866, no.819.
5) Formerly at Bolton Abbey (Hawkesbury 1903, p 30) and Kirkham Abbey (Liverpool 1906, p 7).
6) Catalogue of the Sutherland Collection, I, 1837, p 114.

Referenceback to top

Millar 2004, p 453, under iv 35.

Piper 1963
D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, pp 45-46.

Conservationback to top

Lined, some retouching, discoloured varnish.

Provenanceback to top

Lt-Col W. R. Tyrell, Haughley, Suffolk; the Earls of Clancarty sale, Christie’s, 12 March 1892 (132 as of an unknown man); bt. Agnew, for the NPG (as of the 1st Earl of Burlington).


This extended catalogue entry is by John Ingamells, one of a limited number of entries drafted in 2010 for the incomplete catalogue, Early Stuart Portraits 1625-1685, and is as written then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.