Charlie Thomas
Group Head, Private Collections, Furniture & Works of Art, U.K
Lot 38
Welsh Schoolearly, 17th CenturyPortrait of a Welsh gentleman, probably John Griffith of Talybont, half-length, in black costume, holding a document
29 March 2017, 10:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £4,750 inc. premium
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Welsh School, early, 17th Century
Portrait of a Welsh gentleman, probably John Griffith of Talybont, half-length, in black costume, holding a document
charged with the sitter's coat-of-arms (upper left) and bears inscription and date 'ANo.DNI.1609/ ATATIS SUAE. 41' (upper right)
oil on panel
49.5 x 40.5cm (19 1/2 x 15 15/16in).
charged with the sitter's coat-of-arms (upper left) and bears inscription and date 'ANo.DNI.1609/ ATATIS SUAE. 41' (upper right)
oil on panel
49.5 x 40.5cm (19 1/2 x 15 15/16in).
Footnotes
Literature
J.Steegman, A Survey of Portraits in Welsh Houses, Cardiff, 1957, vol. I, p. 70, no. 3, ill., pl. 11A (under Portraits formerly at Brogyntyn, as a Portrait of John Owen of Porkington and Clenennau)
The present portrait has been traditionally identified as John Owen of Porkington and Clenennau. However, the coat-of-arms with which it is inscribed quarters those for Griffiths (gules three lions rampant or), Owain Gwynnedd (vert, three eagles or displayed in fess) and Bran of Anglesey (argent a chevron between three crows sable). This would suggest a likely identification of the sitter as John Griffith of Talybont (Anglesey). He was the heir and grandson of Edmund Griffiths of Porth yr Aur (Caernarvon) and Talybont, who was of the family of Griffiths of Penrhyn, the leading family in North Wales in the 15th century, which boasted a descent from the celebrated Llywarch ap Bran. He married Janet, daughter of Mereddd ap Evan ap Robert of Gwydir, whose genealogies particularly note her descent from Owain Gwynedd, the 12th Century King of Gwynedd and according to the rules of Welsh heraldry this would entitle their heirs to also quarter those arms.
