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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

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Mary Neville, Lady Dacre and Gregory Fiennes, 10th Baron Dacre, 1559

Hans Eworth

This unusual and highly accomplished double portrait of mother and son was probably painted to commemorate the restoration of the Dacre family fortune. Mary Neville, Lady Dacre (1524–c.1576) was the widow of Thomas Fiennes, 9th Baron Dacre, who had been executed in 1541 for his part in a poaching incident in which a man had been killed. His titles and honours were forfeit, only to be restored during the first year of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign to Lady Dacre’s son, Gregory Fiennes (1539–1594) following her campaigns on his behalf.

Intriguingly, it is Lady Dacre who is shown on the left of the composition, a position normally reserved for the husband in double portraits commemorating marital unions; and in the act of putting on a ring, which was often used to demonstrate the assumption of dynastic power. This portrait is signed in monogram by the distinguished Netherlandish artist Hans Eworth. His exquisite handling of oil paint enabled him to create paintings with a greater sense of realism than most of his English contemporaries.

National Portrait Gallery, London Purchased with help from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund, the Portrait Fund, L.L. Brownrigg, John Morton Morris, Paul Dacre, and many other donations, 2008
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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

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