Attributed to Adam de Colone, 
Dutch 1572-1651- 
Portrait of a lady identified as Lady Margaret...

Attributed to Adam de Colone, 
Dutch 1572-1651- 

Portrait of a lady identified as Lady Margaret Hay, Countess of Dunfermline, bust-length, in a black and white slashed doublet, white lace collar and black veil; 

oil on canvas, dated '1628-' (upper right), 66.15 x 53.7 cm. 

Provenance: 
The Marquess' of Tweeddale, Yester House, East Lothian and by descent. 
'The Most Hon. The Dowager Marchioness of Tweeddale and the Trustees of the Most Hon. the late Marquess of Tweeddale' sale, Christie's, London, 1 May 1970, lot 46 (as 'G. Jackson'), £199.10.
Property of the late Hugo Morley-Fletcher, MA FSA (1940-2022). 

Exhibited: 
Edinburgh, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, ‘Painting in Scotland 1570-1650’, August-September 1975, no.53 (as 'Adam de Colone').

Literature: 
J. Bullock, 'George Jamesone the Scottish Vandyck', Edinburgh, 1885, p.182, no.183, as 'George Jameson' and the sitter 'Jane Abercromby, daughter of the Earl of Dunfermline'. 
D. Thomson, 'The Life and Art of George Jamesone', Oxford, 1974, under Appendix B, 'Portraits attributed to Adam de Colone', pp.148-49, no.21, illus. pl.41, as 'George Jameson' and the sitter 'Margaret Kerr, Lady Yester'. 

Note: 
The present work was previously thought to identify Lady Margaret Kerr, Lady Yester (1573-1645). However, the date of the portrait suits Tweeddale’s sister, Lady Margaret Hay (1592-1659), rather than his mother, Margaret Kerr (and not his wife, who had died before the portrait was painted). 

‘Formerly attributed to both Jamesone and Gilbert Jackson, it has, in fact, many of those Netherlandish features typical of de Colone… Despite a certain smoothness…, the face has a degree of particularity which makes it one of de Colone's most satisfying portraits. The subject, clearly a widow as both her dress and the ring tied to the band string show, has long been traditionally identified as Margaret Kerr, Lady Hay of Yester…, an identification which can be disposed of purely on the evidence of the date on the painting and the age of the sitter. It is so obviously [a] pendant from no. 52 above [Portrait of John Hay] that an identity must be sought in that context. Lord Hay's first wife Jean Seton, daughter of the 1st Earl of Dunfermline, died before 19 January 1627 and is, therefore, discounted. His sister Margaret Hay, however, married this same Earl of Dunfermline (as his third wife) in 1607 and was widowed in 1622: she did not remarry until 1633. That the sitter is indeed Margaret Hay is virtually confirmed by comparison with an earlier portrait by Gheeraerts (formerly at Yester) - a conclusion supported by a comparison with the Van Dyck portrait of her eldest son, the 2nd Earl of Dunfermline, which shows a face extraordinarily similar in appearance.’ (Scottish National Portrait Gallery, ‘Painting in Scotland 1570-1650’ exhibition catalogue, p.55). 

Indeed, the Countess of Dunfermline would have known Adam de Colone as he painted her first husband, the 1st Earl of Dunfermline, in 1622. This painting was possibly commissioned by the countess, as it was painted the year of the Earl's death, and instead of being from life, it copies a 1610 portrait of him by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, now in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery [PG 2176].. Adam de Colone also painted her son Charles Seton, 2nd Earl of Dunfermline (date unknown). 

De Colone clearly employed at least one studio assistant. While he wasn’t in the British Isles for long, there are versions of his full-length depiction of James VI and I (at full-length, three-quarter-length and half-length) that appear to be painted with the assistance of another hand, to meet the demand for copies of this particular composition. It is entirely possible therefore that the present lot was painted by both Adam de Colone and a studio assistant. The present work would have been a one-off composition of an important sitter and so it would have been very unlikely if the master was not involved in its production at all.