Unknown man, formerly known as Sir Ralph Winwood

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Unknown man, formerly known as Sir Ralph Winwood

by Unknown artist
oil on canvas, circa 1617-1620
29 3/4 in. x 24 3/4 in. (756 mm x 629 mm)
Purchased, 1858
Primary Collection
NPG 40

Sitterback to top

  • Sir Ralph Winwood (1563?-1617), Secretary of State. Sitter associated with 5 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Unknown artist, Artist. Artist or producer associated with 6578 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This portrait was purchased in 1858, just two years after the National Portrait Gallery was founded. Recent cleaning has allowed this portrait to be dated to the early seventeenth century. It was originally considered to depict the prominent diplomat and politician, Sir Ralph Winwood of Northamptonshire. However, the sitter only slightly resembles the known portraits of Winwood. The man's clothes certainly suggest that he was a member of the gentry or a successful professional man. Due to the lack of any further significant information concerning this portrait's past history, however, the identity of the sitter is likely to remain uncertain.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Cooper, Tarnya (introduction) Banville, John (character sketch) Chevalier, Tracy (character sketch) Fellowes, Julian (character sketch) McCall Smith, Alexander (character sketch) Pratchett, Terry (character sketch) Singleton, Sarah (character sketch) Trollope, Joanna (character sketch) Waters, Minette (character sketch), Imagined Lives: Portraits of Unknown People, 2011 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from December 2011 - June 2012), p. 81
  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 690
  • Strong, Roy, Tudor and Jacobean Portraits, 1969, p. 333

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Events of 1617back to top

Current affairs

Robert Carey, Earl of Monmouth is made Chamberlain to Prince Charles.
Petitions from Catholics persuade James I to permit certain types of recreation on Sundays. However, the king's subsequent declaration of sports angers Puritans who advocated for appropriate and strict observance of the sabbath.

Art and science

Physician and Rosicrucian, Robert Fludd, begins to publish his philosophical work, Utriusque cosmi. Extensively illustrated with mystic emblems, Fludd's neoplatonist metaphysics suggested a complex relationship between the spiritual and physical world, prompting attacks from leading scholars.


International

Incited by Charles d'Albert, Duke of Luynes, Constable of France, the seventeen-year-old French king, Louis XIII, forces his mother Marie de Medici who has held de facto power, into retirement and has her favourite, Concino Concini, assassinated.

Comments back to top

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