943 - Portrait probably Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford, ermine robe, crown, probably 2nd half 20th c.

Portrait probably Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford, ermine robe, crown, probably 2nd half 20th c. Oil on canvas, relined onto a wooden board, unsigned, probably 2nd half of the 20th century, in the style of the early 18th century. Portrait of a standing gentleman, probably Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Mortimer (1689–1741), turned to the left, looking at the viewer, long curled full-bottomed wig, white cravat with lace, crimson robe with cape and ermine trim, red belt with gold-coloured buckle, gold-coloured embroidered sleeves with lace cuffs, the left hand at the front on the belt with extended index finger, the right hand on a crown with ermine rim and pearl setting lying on a pedestal, a column on the left, dark green background. Condition commensurate with age with traces of restoration, canvas with some paint losses, frame with a loss at lower right. Please inspect. Image 124x101 cm (HxW), in a gold-coloured ornate frame with scroll and flower relief, frame width 12 cm. The voluminous full-bottomed wig was the main feature of men's fashion from around 1670, for which the court of Versailles set the style in almost all countries; after Louis XIV only two curls remained of its side parts. The crimson velvet robe with cape and collar of white fur and rows of ermine tails corresponds in type to the coronation robe of the British peers, in which the number of rows indicates rank, from the baron with two to the duke with four rows. A further sign of rank belonging to this robe is the crown, the coronet. Ermine robe and pearl crown appear likewise on Baroque portraits of nobles and rulers on the Continent. Edward Harley was an English collector of books and art; the collection of manuscripts assembled by him and his father Robert Harley, the Harleian Manuscripts, went in 1753 to the newly founded British Museum and is today held in the British Library. A portrait by Michael Dahl in the British Museum shows him in red peer's robes with ermine cape, the crown on a table beside him.