Portrait of Jane Bromley English School in the mid-17th century

Portrait of Jane Bromley, an oil painting on canvas from the mid-17th century, in good condition. A young woman depicted as a half-length portrait, identified as Jane Bromley, is painted wearing a widow’s hat, which is worn during mourning.

This ancient work from the English school presents a widow with an absent gaze, with an ethereal blue complexion, lacking background and context, dressed in a simple and monastic outfit decorated only with a brooch. Strands of dark hair peek out from under her head covering, and her skin reveals her young age.

This antique painting from the English school dates from the first half of the 17th century and comes from a private collection in Lombardy. It was purchased at an auction by the London auction house Christie’s on February 28, 1936, lot no. 31.70 (sold as John Riley, portrait of Lady Uvedale de Tompkyns). The painting is in good condition, framed in a wooden frame with gilded embellishments and a Makkah-style finish.

A similar painting can be seen at the Fox Talbot Museum in Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire, England, where it was loaned by the same Davenport family in 1993 — cataloged as English School.

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