“Frances Thynne, Lady Worsley”
“Frances Thynne, Lady Worsley” is a collaborative oil on canvas portrait painting by the Dutch artists, Willem Wissing and Jan van der Vaart. It was painted circa 1685, five years before she became Lady Worsley.
This full-length portrait features Thynne in a red dress. She is subtly displaying a rich ermine lined blue mantle, an obvious show of her wealth. In the background a domed house lies in the distance. Her pale and milky skin seems to almost glow against the darker colors of the background.
Frances Thynne was the daughter of the 1st Viscount Weymouth, Thomas Thynne. In 1690, she married Sir Robert Worsley, 4th Baronet, who was a member of Parliament. Robert Worsley worked on restoring his family’s estate, the Appuldurcombe House on the Isle of Wight, in England, which can still be visited today.
Between 1680 and 1687, Willem Wissing served as the court painter for the nobility in London, England. His work was very fashionable in his day, and he was a favorite among the women in the nobility. Jan van der Vaart, worked as an assistant in Wissing’s studio. As Wissing did in his early career, Van der Vaart painted the backgrounds of Wissing’s portraits. Van der Vaart was hired to paint the background, as well as any draperies or still life within Wissing’s portrait paintings. Van der Vaart’s still life paintings were exceptional, and art historians can tell which Wissing paintings that van der Vaart collaborated on.
Wissing and van der Vaart used the same formula for many of their collaborative portraits. This is the exact same dress, pose, and background as found in Wissing and van der Vaart’s 1685 painting, “Queen Anne, when Princess of Denmark” currently in the collections of the National Galleries of Scotland, in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Like Wissing with his mentor, van der Vaart took over Wissing’s portrait studio upon his untimely death.
“Frances Thynne, Lady Worsley” sold at a Christie’s art auction in 2011 and is currently in a private collection.
For more on Willem Wissing, please visit his short biography here.
For more on Jan van der Vaart, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
