Description
Clarendon became one of Charles II’s chief advisers during his exile, and became lord chancellor and earl of Clarendon after the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. He was consistent and moderate in his views, which countered the prevailing politics of the time and made him enough enemies that he was eventually ousted from power and fled to France to live the rest of his life in exile. There he wrote an important six-volume work on the Civil War, the History of the Great Rebellion. Through the marriage of his daughter, he was grandfather to both Queen Mary and Queen Anne.
Gerard Soest (referred to on this print as Zoust) was a painter who established a respectable career in London. Almost certainly Dutch by birth and training, he probably came to England in the late 1640’s. Over a dozen portrait paintings and mezzotints by Soest are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Condition: Generally very good with the usual overall light toning, wear, soft creases. Margins trimmed to image on top and sides as is often the case with separately issued 18th-century mezzotint portraits. Minor wear, minute nicks and short tears to margins. Upper margin with tape residue verso.
References:
“Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed. New York: Columbia University Press: 2001. Online at http://www.bartleby.com/65/cl/ClarendoE.html (21 May 2002).
“NPG D1453, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon.” National Portrait Gallery, London. http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?search=ss&sText=clarendon&LinkID=mp00891&rNo=0&role=sit (21 May 2002).
