Circle of Johannes Mytens (Dutch 1614-1670), Portrait of Charles II

Circle of Johannes Mytens (Dutch 1614-1670)
Portrait of Charles II
Oil on canvas
113 x 91cm (44¼ x 35¾ in.)

Provenance:
Kirtlington Park, Oxfordshire

Kirtlington Park is a Grade I listed Palladian country house built between 1742 and 1746 and located just east of Kirtlington village. The gardens look out from North Oxfordshire towards the Chiltern Hills and were landscaped by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown between 1752 and 1757, when has was working nearby on the gardens at Blenheim Palace.

The house was built for Sir James Dashwood, 2nd Baronet (1715-79) after he had married an heiress, Elizabeth Spencer. By the 1820s, Kirtlington Park was still unfinished in some parts due to gambling debts incurred by Sir James' son Henry Dashwood. The house remained in the family until 1909, when Sir George John Egerton Dashwood, 6th Baronet, sold the house to the Earl of Leven and Melville. By 1922, it is recorded as being owned by Hubert Maitland Budgett. In 1933, the rococo dining room was exported and is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and makes up the largest European Room in the wing of the museum dedicared to European Rooms and Art.

During the Second World War the park was used as a Victory garden. Thirty years later, Kirtlington Park was bought from the Budgett family in 1971, by Christopher Buxton.

Shillinglee Park is an 18th century house and estate in West Sussex situated between the villages of Chiddingfold and Plaistow.

Built in 1785, Shillinglee was the home of the Earl Winterton and originally a manor of the Arundel Estate which belonged to the Norfolk family.

Both Edward Turnour, 4th Earl Winterton and his son, also Edward, 5th Earl Winterton, were fine cricketers and there are records of 19th century cricket matches that were played in the grounds against neighbouring villages. During the start of the 20th century Shillinglee was recorded as being the summer residence of the Indian Prince Ranjitsinhji, thought to be one of the greatest cricketers of all time.

During the Second World War the house was occupied by Canadian troops who accidently burnt the house down in around January 1943. The shell of Shillinglee was rebuilt and sold, with the remaining contents, to Christopher Buxton the then owner of Kirtlington Park. Shillinglee was then remodelled into and sold as smaller residences and at this time a number of the original works of art were transferred to Kirtlington Park.

Condition Report:
Relined. Canvas is slack. Rubbing to the framing edges with associated loss. Patches of fine craquelure and cupping scattered throughout. Surface dirt throughout. A large tear approx. 20cm to upper right quadrant. Three tears to the lower right quadrant. The first horizontal approx. 15cm running to the right from the gentleman's middle finger, with visible retouching in natural light and cupping. The second slightly smaller approx. 5cm to the left of the gentleman's left sleeve with some associated loss. The largest of the three running vertical at the lower right edge above the sitter's left hand with visible repair, retouching in natural light, cupping and flaking. Inspection under UV reveals repairs and retouching to the areas mentioned above and a thick green masking varnish which may be distorting the extent of restoration.