DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68073#0213
FLEMISH PAINTING
187
ROBERT RICH, EARL OF WARWICK.
Sir Anthony Van Dyck Collection of
(1599-1641). Mr. Jules S. Bache.
In silver doublet with slashed sleeves embroidered with flowers,
crimson knee-breeches edged with gold braid, pink silk stockings and
white shoes with lace rosettes (or “shoe roses,” as they were called
in those days), a crimson cloak thrown over his left shoulder and held
by his gloved hand, white lawn collar and cuffs edged with hand-
some lace, Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, stands before us, a picture
of elegance, manly beauty, and aristocratic hauteur. He is standing
full front with his head turned three-quarters to the left, in which
direction he is also looking, and he is holding his black felt hat
in his right hand. His armor and baton of command are lying on
the ground by his side. The embroidered curtain in the back-
ground does not prevent us from seeing a naval engagement on his
right.
Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, came of very distinguished ancestry
on the maternal line, for his mother was Penelope Devereux, the
sister of Essex, whose mother, Lettice Knollys, had been Maid of
Honor to Queen Elizabeth (and who captivated the Earl of Leicester),
and whose father, Walter Devereux, was first Earl of Essex (died 1576).
Penelope’s father had wished her to marry Sir Philip Sidney; but the
Earl of Huntingdon, Penelope’s guardian, ruled otherwise and forced
her to marry Lord Rich, “a man of independent fortune and a known
estate but otherwise of an uncourtly disposition, unsociable, austere,
and of no agreeable conversation to her.”
Lady Rich, the most beautiful woman in all London, particularly
famous for her sparkling black eyes, plunged wildly into society and
was the most admired and courted woman of the Court. She played,
too, a leading part in the rebellion of her distinguished brother, Essex.
Lady Rich lives in literature as Sidney’s Stella. The romance between
these lovers, “Astrophel and Stella,” never cooled. When Sidney
187
ROBERT RICH, EARL OF WARWICK.
Sir Anthony Van Dyck Collection of
(1599-1641). Mr. Jules S. Bache.
In silver doublet with slashed sleeves embroidered with flowers,
crimson knee-breeches edged with gold braid, pink silk stockings and
white shoes with lace rosettes (or “shoe roses,” as they were called
in those days), a crimson cloak thrown over his left shoulder and held
by his gloved hand, white lawn collar and cuffs edged with hand-
some lace, Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, stands before us, a picture
of elegance, manly beauty, and aristocratic hauteur. He is standing
full front with his head turned three-quarters to the left, in which
direction he is also looking, and he is holding his black felt hat
in his right hand. His armor and baton of command are lying on
the ground by his side. The embroidered curtain in the back-
ground does not prevent us from seeing a naval engagement on his
right.
Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, came of very distinguished ancestry
on the maternal line, for his mother was Penelope Devereux, the
sister of Essex, whose mother, Lettice Knollys, had been Maid of
Honor to Queen Elizabeth (and who captivated the Earl of Leicester),
and whose father, Walter Devereux, was first Earl of Essex (died 1576).
Penelope’s father had wished her to marry Sir Philip Sidney; but the
Earl of Huntingdon, Penelope’s guardian, ruled otherwise and forced
her to marry Lord Rich, “a man of independent fortune and a known
estate but otherwise of an uncourtly disposition, unsociable, austere,
and of no agreeable conversation to her.”
Lady Rich, the most beautiful woman in all London, particularly
famous for her sparkling black eyes, plunged wildly into society and
was the most admired and courted woman of the Court. She played,
too, a leading part in the rebellion of her distinguished brother, Essex.
Lady Rich lives in literature as Sidney’s Stella. The romance between
these lovers, “Astrophel and Stella,” never cooled. When Sidney