Mary Bedingfeld, Mrs Thomas Eyre (d.1715)

attributed to Jacob Huysmans (Antwerp c.1630 – London 1696). Oil painting on canvas, Mary Bedingfeld, Mrs Thomas Eyre (d.1715) attributed to Jacob Huysmans (Antwerp c.1630 – London 1696). Painted oval. Half-length portrait, of a woman, half-turned to the left, gazing at the spectator, she wears a dark greenish-blue dress with a circular decolletage. Her right hand holds the draped folds of her brown fichu. Her left forearm is partially revealed by a white frill, pinned back with a brooch to the dress sleeve, above the elbow. Her coiffure is dressed flat on top with falling ringlets, twinned with a string of pearls. Her necklace and drop earrings are also of pearls. 3rd Daughter of Sir Henry Bedingfeld, 1st Baronet, and Margaret Paston, his wife. The subject married Thomas Eyre. A later inscription below right, reads 'Mary, daughter of Sir Henry Bedingfeld and Margaret Paston. She married Thomas Eyre... ancestor of the Earl of Newbury... Died 1757'. Marked Number 2. Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk (Accredited Museum)