A record of one woman's triumph: Lady Anne's triptych

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A spectacular triptych, commissioned by Lady Anne Clifford in 1646 to celebrate gaining her rightful inheritance, is displayed for the first time at the Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal, Cumbria (until December 2013)

The three panels, painted in 1646 possibly by the Dutch artist Jan van Belcamp (1610–53), depict in full-length portraits interior scenes from three periods in the life of Lady Anne Clifford (1590–1676), who was born at Skipton Castle in Yorkshire. In 1605 at the age of 15 she dramatically lost the inheritance of the Clifford estates. Her father died leaving her £15,000 (an enormous sum at the time), but passing the family’s north-England estates to his brother. His will stated that the estates should pass through the male line of the family before Anne, his immediate heir, would be eligible to inherit them. Only when the 5th Earl of Cumberland died in 1643 without male heir could she reclaim her rights. The properties included the Castle of Skipton in Yorkshire, and Brougham Castle, Appleby Castle and Pendragon Castle in Westmorland (now Cumbria).

The left-hand panel of the triptych illustrates the richly dressed young Anne, aged 15, standing alone in a room. The portrait head is probably taken from a likeness of her in a miniature from that time but her dress is from a slightly later period, c.1615-20, a dress that was possibly still in Lady Anne’s collection in 1646 at her home in Baynard’s Castle, London, or copied by the artist from an unknown portrait. About her are objects relating to her life. On the tapestry-covered table stands an hourglass to mark the time and a piece of her unfinished embroidery. Lady Anne is depicted turning the leaves of a music book and propped against the table is a double-headed twelve-course lute –  not in production until the 1630s – but indicative of her musical skills. Above her head are two framed depictions of significant people, her tutor, the writer and poet Samuel Daniel who tutored her from 8 to 12 years of age, and her governess Mrs Anne Taylor. The books on her shelves reveal Lady Anne’s education and intellect. Amongst them are Ovid’s Metamorphosis, the works of Chaucer, Spenser and Sidney, Montaigne’s Essays, Castiglione’s The Courtier, Cervantes Don Quixote, Tasso’s Godfrey of Boulogne, and Daniel’sPoems. Daniel could speak Italian and French, and some works are in English translation. Her father forbade her to learn a foreign language. The much larger centre panel depicts a time before her birth. It illustrates Lady Anne’s parents at the time she was being carried in her mother’s womb. In the painting we see her father, George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, and her mother Lady Margaret Russell. Side by side they stand, with their right arms outstretched toward the smaller figures of their two young sons, Robert and Francis, both deceased. On the walls of the room are framed portraits of Lady Anne’s aunts, Lady Warwick, Lady Bath, Lady Wharton and the Countess of Derby. Forty Coats of Arms displaying the prestigious ancestry of the Clifford family decorate the panel borders.

The central panel therefore establishes Lady Anne’s birthright, and the right hand panel moves on in time to depict her at the age of 56, having finally retrieved her father’s estates.  She is portrayed as a confident woman, coolly returning the gaze of the spectator. At her feet, a large black and white cat sits comfortably staring ahead whilst a small white dog jumps up for Lady Anne’s attention. Above her head the books on the shelves lie jumbled denoting constant use, but the titles are easily read (especially as the painting is hung at eye-level in Abbot Hall) and on the wall are two portraits: her first husband, Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset (died 1624), and her second husband Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery (died 1650). It would be a further six years after 1643 before Lady Anne could travel north to reclaim her properties. In the interim this triptych and a second copy were created to await hanging in her castles at Skipton and Appleby. (The triptych at Skipton castle eventually deteriorated; the side panels could not be saved; the central panel was destroyed in a fire).

Historically, there is so much to study in the triptych: not least the changing fashion, from the Elizabethan costumes in the left and centre panels, to the contrasting mid-seventeenth dress worn by Lady Anne in the right panel. In addition, the paintings contain text to explain events and depictions. To supplement the visual and textual information contained within the work, the Gallery information panels are an excellent source of informed analysis, explaining much of the more unusual elements of the work.

The Great Picture, as it is called, was acquired in 1981 by the Lakeland Arts Trust and displayed at Appleby Castle until its closure in the late 1990s.  Apart from a brief appearance of the triptych at Tate Britain in 2004, the central panel has been stored until a solution to reunite it with the other panels could be found. Now, until December 2013, it is possible to see this artwork in its entirety, a work that reveals much about the history of the Clifford family and underlying it all the steely determination of Lady Anne to claim her rightful inheritance.