Long-lost final portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh up for auction
Rare artwork under the hammer … all thanks to an amateur historian’s extraordinary ebay find
WHEN the painting of an unknown man was sold at Bonhams in 2012 for a few thousand pounds, it was simply described as “portrait of a cleric”.
Thanks to the work of an amateur art historian, it could now fetch many times that sum after being identified as a lost portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh.
Lesley Wood spotted the picture for sale on the ebay site of an art dealer who had purchased it at auction. She bought it on a hunch after studying its details and spotting that an inscription in the top corner, Amore et Virtute, was Raleigh’s motto.
The unsigned picture is now being sold as the last-known portrait of Raleigh, dated to 1613 when he was incarcerated in the Tower of London. He was held there from 1603-16 after being implicated in a plot against James I and was executed in 1618. Ms Wood said her research has identified the painting as “The Tower Portrait”, referred to in John Aubrey’s Brief Lives, a collection of biographies published in the latter half of the 17th century. That portrait was said to have been acquired by a clergyman, Dr Robert Burhill, and passed down through his family until it was lost.
Ms Wood became interested in Sir Walter Raleigh after studying the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods for her MA in English literature at Oxford.
She said: “I have never bought anything from ebay before or since, but I saw this painting and it drew me in. I sat up all night researching it.”
In 2014, Ms Wood had the painting X-rayed and analysed under infrared by the Hamilton Kerr Institute, part of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, which confirmed it dates back to the early 17th century.
The painting, which she bought for £6,000, remained on her wall until she moved to Switzerland recently to take up a job at an international school.
“I couldn’t bring it with me because of the climate so I realised I just had to sell it. I am ever so fond of it, but circumstances mean I can’t keep it,” she said. Although a prisoner in the tower, Raleigh had two rooms and was allowed servants and visitors.
In 1613 he was working on his History of the World, which was published the following year.
According to the auction house, Raleigh is wearing black in the picture because he was in mourning for Prince Henry, who had just died. The painting will go under the hammer at Duke’s of Dorchester today with a “conservative” estimate of £6,000 but could fetch six figures, according to one expert.
Guy Schwinge, selling the painting for Duke’s auctioneers, said: “It is impossible to say with 100 per cent certainty that this is a portrait of Raleigh, but all the facts point to it being him.
“Paintings of Raleigh are extremely rare and those that exist are in museums.
“It is extraordinary that this one’s whereabouts were unknown for so long. We are confident it is not a forgery.”
Others were more sceptical. Dr Anna Beer, author of Patriot or Traitor: The Life and Death of Sir Walter Ralegh, said Raleigh was persona non grata by 1613 and it would have required a “generous” Lieutenant of the Tower to grant permission for portrait sittings.
‘I have never bought anything from ebay before or since, but this painting drew me in. I sat up all night researching it.’