Probably English School 17th / 18th century - Portrait of John Mordaunt, 1st Viscount Mordaunt of Avalon

Probably English School 17th / 18th century

Portrait of John Mordaunt, 1st Viscount Mordaunt of Avalon

Oil on canvas (relined). 77 x 63 cm.

John Mordaunt was born in 1626 as the second son of the first Earl of Peterborough. During the English Civil War, Mordaunt sided with the Royalist party in 1648 but was forced to flee from the Republic to The Hague in the same year following a failed revolt against the Parliamentarians. He first returned to England in 1656 and soon joined a conspiracy against Oliver Cromwell, which also failed. He was subsequently sentenced for high treason, but later exonerated. In 1659, Charles II created him first Viscount of Mordaunt in Avalon from his exile in The Hague. Following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, John Mordaunt failed to have any notable career at court, presumably due to his unreliable personality.
The composition of this portrait is thought to be based on a work by Adriaen Hanneman (1604-1671) which was turned into a copperplate engraving by William Faithorne the Elder (1616-1691). The present work also bears a strong resemblence to a portrait attributed to John Alexander (1686/8 - ca. 1766) and dated 1739.