English School, 1630

Portrait of Mary, Lady Offley, full-length, in a white embroidered dress, pink and gold embroidered overcoat, lace ruff and headdress, holding a fan in her right hand, by a draped table

Details

English School, 1630
Portrait of Mary, Lady Offley, full-length, in a white embroidered dress, pink and gold embroidered overcoat, lace ruff and headdress, holding a fan in her right hand, by a draped table
dated 'Anno: 1630 ·' (upper left)
oil on canvas
85½ x 52 in. (217.2 x 132.1 cm.)

Provenance

By descent to the sitter's grandson, John Offley (d. 1688), of Madeley, who married Anne, daughter of John Crewe (d. 1711), of Crewe, and by inheritance at Crewe Hall, Cheshire.
with Thomas Agnew & Sons, London.
Anonymous sale [Agnew's]; Christie's, London, 30 May 1958, lot 126, as 'English School' (6 gns. to Bazelgetti).
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 18 November 1983, lot 31, as 'Follower of Marcus Gheeraerts I' (£7,020).

Literature

(Probably) G. Ormerod, History of Cheshire, III, London, 1882, p. 312, 'fine whole lengths of Mr. Offley and his lady' amongst the principal pictures in the gallery at Crewe Hall.

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Lot Essay

The daughter of Nicholas Fuller of Chamberhouse, Berkshire, the sitter married in 1605 Sir John Offley, of Madeley, Staffordshire, who was a Member of Parliament for Stafford in 1625 and 1626. Izaak Walton dedicated The Compleat Angler to their son, John Offley (d. 1658) in 1653. Their grandson, John Offley (d. 1688), married Anne, daughter and coheir of John Crewe (d. 1711), of Crewe, and consequently the family inherited the Crewe estates in Cheshire. It the next generation, John Offley (d. 1749) changed his name to Crewe by Act of Parliament in 1708. Built between 1615 and 1636 for Sir Randolph Crewe, Crewe Hall was one of the largest houses in 17th-Century England, and was said to have 'brought London into Cheshire'.

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