Lot 2166
SIMON DUBOIS (1632-1708)
PORTRAIT OF JOHN SOMERS, BARON SOMERS (1651-1716)
Quarter length, wearing a dark green coat (or banyan) with striped sleeves and a lace jabot, within a painted oval, oil on canvas
75.5 x 63cm.
Provenance: Lawrences, April 27th, 1987, lot 157; and also October 14th, 2011, lot 2844.
* Somers was a lawyer and a Whig politician who served as an MP from 1689-1693, was a Keeper of the Great Seal, a Privy Counsellor and was appointed Lord Chancellor in 1697. He became President of the Royal Society in 1698, a year after his ennoblement and was a keen collector of prints and drawings. He died unmarried and without issue. The title descended through the grandson of Somers' sister, Mary. The portrait was traditionally ascribed to Sir Godfrey Kneller and identified (incorrectly) as Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond (1672-1723). Kneller did paint Somers, c.1715-16, as part of his Kit-Cat series (National Portrait Gallery).
Compare with Dubois's portrait of Josiah Diston (Coll. Earl of Halifax); and a portrait, possibly of Sir Edward Mansel (Coll. Lady Blythswood, Penrice Castle, 1958)
