Sir Nicholas Bacon (1509-1579)

British (English) School. Oil painting on cradled oak panel, Sir Nicholas Bacon (1509-1579), British (English) School, after an original of 1562. Inscribed (erroneously) top left, in antiquarian hand: Thomas Cavendishe/de Cavendishe/A.D. MCCCCCXV. Portrait as a middle-aged man, head and shoulders, turned slightly to the right, gazing at spectator, wearing a black dress trimmed with fur, small white collar and black cap. The sitter was an English statesman who attained high legal office which, as a Protestant, he lost under Mary, but in 1558, on her accession Elizabeth made him lord keeper of the Great Seal, and left to him and Cecil the management of church affairs. A staunch anti-Catholic, he was an implacable enemy of Mary Queen of Scots; he is buried in St Paul's Cathedral. The original of the present picture is the portrait at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (of which Sir Nicholas was a benefactor), showing him in 1562 at the age of fifty-five. Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire (Accredited Museum)