THE CAPTURED EYE
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English School circa 1555
Sir Edward Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings of Loughborough (c.1512/15 – 1572) Oil on panel: 35 × 27 in. (89 × 68.5 cm.) Inscribed upper left with the sitter’s coat-of-arms and the Order of the Garter’s motto, ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense’ Painted circa 1555 Provenance By descent in the family of the sitter to the Marquesses of Hastings, Donington Park, Leicester and later Loudoun Castle, Ayrshire, until Henry Weysford Charles Plantagenet Rawdon-Hastings, 4th and last Marquess of Hastings (1842 – 1868), thence to his eldest sister, Lady Edith Maud, 10th Countess of Loudoun, (1833 – 1874), thence to her son, Charles Edward Rawdon Hastings, 11th Earl of Loudoun, Baron Botreaux, Hungerford, and Hastings (1855 – 1920);1 with Marshall Spink, c.1930s; with Kende Galleries, New York, 29 January 1941, lot 46; Arnold Seligman, Trevor & Co. Ltd, 53 Grosvenor St., London, by 1953; with Newhouse Galleries, New York, c.1960s; Private collection, USA until 2012. Exhibited London, South Kensington Museum, Exhibition of National Portraits, 1866, no.339, lent by Henry Weysford Charles Plantagenet Rawdon-Hastings, 4th and last Marquess of Hastings (1842 – 1868), Donington Park. London, New Gallery, Tudor Exhibition, 1899, no.221, lent by Charles Edward Rawdon Hastings, 11th Earl of Loudon & Hastings (1855 – 1920), Donington Park.
This is a rare example of portraiture that has survived from the reign of Mary I of England. Edward Hastings, Baron Hastings of Loughborough (1512/15 – 1572), was a nobleman, soldier and courtier who owed his exalted status primarily to his position as a favourite and confidant of the queen from the time of her ascension to the throne in 1553 until her death in 1558. In light of his loyal service he was elected to the Order of the Garter in 1555, and it is very likely that our portrait was commissioned to mark this particular honour. Hastings is depicted wearing the Great George and collar of the Order of the Garter and even his elaborate coatof-arms, top left, is surrounded with the ribbon and motto of the Garter. An imposing presence, his cloak is lined with ermine, and his black silk doublet is richly decorated with gold braid and jewels. His shirt has an embroidered standing collar and he wears a ‘halo’ hat over a black coif. The three-quarter-length format bears reference to other court portraiture of the period, most notably Holbein’s portrait of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (1473 – 1554) from 1539, in the Royal Collection, England.
1. On his death his titles were divided between his nieces (the daughters of his brother the Hon. Major Paulyn RawdonHastings), and his youngest brother the Hon. Gilbert Clifton-Hastings, until the Donington estate was divided and sold in 1931 to pay death duties.
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He served in the French campaign of 1544, in the Duke of Somerset’s army against Scotland in 1547, and in 1550 with his brother the Earl on a commission to demarcate the boundary of the Calais pale. Until Edward VI’s death in 1553 he held minor political positions, but with Mary I’s succession his fortunes changed. He took a decisive leading role in assembling supporters of Princess Mary in the Thames valley, a determining factor in destroying support in the privy council for Lady Jane Grey. He then joined Mary at Framlingham where he was rewarded with the Office of Receiver of the honour of Leicester, a parcel of land in the Duchy of Lancaster. Soon afterwards he was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council and as one of her inner circle of trusted confidants he was appointed Master of the Horse. During the disputes over the queen’s marriage in the autumn of 1553 he was one of those councillors who sided with the Lord Chancellor, Stephen Gardiner, in opposing Philip’s candidature, but like Gardiner he accepted her decision once reached. Later, after Gardiner’s death in 1555, he became a supporter of Lord Paget and was regularly used for missions that required a high level of trust, and it was in that year he was elected to the Order of the Garter. He was created Lord Chamberlain of the Household in 1557 and Baron Hastings of Loughborough in 1558. Hastings remained personally close to the queen, and was among those chosen to be an executor of her will. Initially Elizabeth I showed no disfavour to Hastings. Nevertheless, Mary’s death spelt the end of his public career. He was not reappointed to the privy council, and was replaced as Lord Chamberlain by Lord Howard of Effingham. He was imprisoned for hearing mass in 1561 but released on taking the Oath of Supremacy. After 1558 he spent most of his time on his estates at Stoke Poges in Buckinghamshire, where he carried out various improvements, which included building a hospital and almshouses, and there he died in March 1572