Lot 1015 Rα

The painting from 1530-1550, created by a follower of Hans Holbein the Younger, was long considered to be a portrait of Mary Tudor, as which it was auctioned at Sotheby´s, London, in 1952. A drawing by Hans Holbein the Younger In Windsor Castle, similar in composition and the physiognomy of the sitter and entitled "The Lady Marchioness of Dorset", disclosed the true identity of the sitter: Margaret Wotton (1487-1541), daughter of Sir Robert Wotton and later Marchioness of Dorset. In 1505 Margaret Wottons married William Medley as first husband, and in 1509 Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorsett, as second husband. Her sister Mary Wotton and her husband Sir Henry Guildrord were portrayed by Hans Holbein the Younger in 1527, the paintings which are today in the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Royal Collection, London.
The trompe I'oeil label in the upper right corner, a later addition, with its pasty brushstrokes differs from the style of the entire painting. It indicates the provenance from the collection of John, Baron Lumley. The majority of works in the Lumley Collection was amended with such a "cartellino", naming the sitter and his biographical data but not the painter. In our case, the inscription on the cartellino is a fragment, which is probably the reason for the early change of identity to Mary Tudor. In an inventory of the Lumley collection from 1590, complemented until 1609, the painting is entitled as follows: "Of the olde Marquesse of Dorsett Syster to Sir Edw. Wooton".