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
© National Portrait Gallery, London
