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Description: | Oval miniature in watercolour [support TBC] in an oval gilt metal presentation frame with a scroll label below inscribed in black letter 'SIR EDWARD SPRAGGE'. The sitter is shown bust length, turned slightly to his left but looking to the viewer, against a dark background. His eyes are blue and he wears a light brown curled full-bottom wig and an elaborate lace cravat over gilt-studded armour.
This is one of 17 miniatures which Sir James Caird purchased for the Museum from the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch in the 1940s. In his 1917 'Studio' monograph on the Buccleuch collection (p.39) H. A. Kennedy queried the traditional identification as Spragge, based on the 'style of costume'. That is not a good reason: portraits of sea officers, including later ones of Spragge, mostly show them in half-armour, but there are examples in full armour (e.g. BHC3026, of Shovell by Michael Dahl). The Lely oil portrait which illustrates Spragge's entry in ODNB (in black and white) may help in due course, based on eye colour: if the identification is correct, the sitter's age and that of the artist suggest this image probably dates to the mid-1660s. | Publisher: | "http://collections.rmg.co.uk/" | Rights holder: | "Royal Museums Greenwich" | Subjects: | Admiral Edward miniatures (medals) Spragge | Source: | Royal Museums Greenwich | Identifier: | http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections... | Go to resource |
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