Thomas Whitgreave

Painted in 1640 by an unknown British artist, Whitgreave fought on the side of the King during the war, ending up being wounded and captured at Naseby. He is better known for his part in the escape of Charles II from the Battle of Worcester, providing shelter for the young king at his home, Moseley Old Hall for two nights during September 1650. Thomas is wearing an odd half doublet, half coat affair with a slit sleeve on his left arm and a heavy, gathered sleeve with a hanging shoulder piece on his right, made of shot silk with intricately woven thread buttons. He also has a laced falling band and some quite complicated tassels on his bandstrings. The picture hangs at the National Trust owned Mosely Old Hall where I guess it has lived since 1640.

John Tradescant the Younger with Roger Friend

..and a collection of exotic shells. Painted by Thomas de Critz in 1645, this picture is in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Tradescant we have met before, but Roger was a local brewer. Nice still life of the shells, and some decent details in their clothes. I’m tempted to suggest that John is trying hard, but failing miserably not to look at Roger’s nose.

John is wearing a black doublet with a plain linen band, though most of it is obscured by the silk (possibly velvet) lined cloak he is wearing over the top. Roger is in a nice madder red coat, or doublet with plain shoulder wings and some neat cloth buttons. His band is ever so slightly on the skew, suggesting that he either got dressed in a hurry or that it’s imperfectly attached and has migrated to the right during the day. © 2011 University of Oxford – Ashmolean Museum

William Sealy aged 14

Painted by an unknown artist and hanging in the Blake Museum in Bridgwater. I’ve not been able to find out much about William apart from the dates of his birth and death (1635-1707) which date this portrait to 1649.

It’s quite a dark somber picture, but you can see some details here: the tassels on his band strings and the buttons on his doublet, fashionably open to display the linen of his shirt (which is also visible through the slashes on his sleeves). Tricky to spot any more detail, but there may just be a wide band of lace on his falling band and possibly some red-worked embroidery on the lining of his right hand sleeve.

Richard Boyle 1st Earl of Burlington

Painted by Anthony van Dyck shortly before the war. This picture hangs in the National Portrait Gallery and shows the Royalist officer in casual mood with the top of his doublet open, showing the linen of his shirt and the attached falling band with a nice edge of lace. Boyle fought in the war mainly in Ireland but with little distinction according to his biographer on the Oxford Dictionary of Biography.

Sir Humphrey Style

the first and last Baronet Style painted by an artist from the circle of Adrien Hanneman at an unknown date, though obviously from the period. This painting came up for sale at Christies in London in 2012. Sir H is wearing  a sumptuous doublet, probably made from silk velvet. Notice the way the artist has painted the way it catches the light, this is very characteristic of that kind of fabric. Just a plain falling band though I don’t think he needs anything more fancy.

 

 

The buttons are not painted in detail, just a few brush strokes, but they look like woven thread ones with some gold bullion thread included in the weave..

 

Portrait of a Young Nobleman

Painted by Daniel Mytens in the late 1630s going by the style of the doublet. This is a high class lad, the clothes are fine and well fitted. He’s wearing a pale pink silk doublet and slightly mismatching buff breeches, though it could be an effect of the light. His doublet is unbuttoned at the lower end to show off the fine linen of his shirt and to draw attention to the top of his breeches. In a decade the fashion would tend to unbuttoning the top of the breeches too, but pre war it was slightly more restrained. His cuffs and falling band are well laced, though if you look closely the types of lace aren’t exactly the same pattern. The portrait was sold by Roy Precious Antiques and Fine Art.

He also has a fine pair of soft leather gloves.

Richard Luther

Painted by Gilbert Jackson or one of his followers in 1639, Richard was 88 at the time and wears what looks like a grey coat cut like a doublet with a pointed waistline and shoulder wings. I would guess that he has a doublet with a high collar  underneath which is holding up his darted linen band and there is a glimpse of points which would be holding up his breeches, an outdated method by 1639 but he is 88 so could be forgiven for being behind the times. This picture was formerly in the collection of Wormsley Park in Essex before it was sold at auction. The image and the details are courtesy of the auctioneers Dreweatts 1759

Here is a detail showing the falling band, his buttons, buttonholes and a glimpse of what looks like a sumptuous fabric being used on the doublet that I presume is under the coat.

The points lacing his breeches in place are clearly visible as is some more of that figured fabric on his breeches.

Shirt and coat cuffs show clearly here and his specs in fine detail.

Thomas Dandy of Coombs

Painted by unknown artist in the 1650s  and hanging in the Museum of Thetford Life, this is a cracking picture of a gent in what I would call a dutch coat, though Mr Dandy probably just called it a coat. I have no information about Thomas, but he looks quite well-to-do in a long wool coat with fine bobbin lace on his band and cuffs. There are some splendid buttons on his coat too, but the resolution on the photo insn’t quite up to showing any detail.

Three Prodigies

…of the present age. Broadside published in 1636 by Michael Sparke, engraving by George Glover. Two of the three we’ve met before. Jeffery Hudson the Queen’s Dwarf and Old Tom Parr the oldest man in the country. The figure on the left is William Evans, porter to King James and Charles. He is the tallest Welshman on record, being two and a half yards high. A favourite party trick was to produce Mr Hudson from his coat pocket to the amusement of all concerned. How they must have laughed!

William wears a normal set of clothes for the time, but outsized! I liked this detail of his doublet. Notice how the belt that closes across his belly ends in a set of ribbon points making the closure line up to the down pointed waist line that was the fashion.

Here’s Jeffery in what I think is a suit made of motley (speckled) wool. A typical garb for the royal fool. Looks like his band is motley too. Those heels would have been essential to gain a few extra inches.

And good old Tom is asleep. I don’t blame him, he would have been 152 by the time the picture was engraved. I see he has two doublets, possibly to keep him warm in the days before cold winter payments and what looks like a 12 paned day cap.

All pictures © Trustees of the British Museum

Frances Tradescant

The daughter of John Tradescant the Younger, Frances was painted by an unidentified artist sometime around 1638. She is bareheaded, but has dressed her hair with a blue ribbon that picks out the ribbons and laces on her bodice which whilst not really high quality is nicely embroidered  around the buttons holding the slashes in her sleeves together. The tabs on the bodice look like they are edged with embroidery too. A tidy kerchief edged with wide needlelace covers her neckline. You can see this picture in the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. © 2011 University of Oxford – Ashmolean Museum