A piece of art displayed at a National Trust site, viewed by thousands annually, has been unveiled as an extraordinary survivor of a design from an engraver credited with the conception of colour printing.
The artwork, considered to be a replica of Sir Anthony van Dyck’s portrait, the ‘Three Eldest Children of King Charles I’, hanging in Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk was initially thought to be oil on paper.
Upon dispatching it for conservation treatment at the Trust’s Royal Oak Conservation Studio in Knole, Kent, it was determined to be an exceptional print by Jacob Christoff Le Blon, an 18th-century printmaker.
Le Blon, a German artist and engraver who passed away aged 73 in 1741, introduced the world to three-colour printing a precursor of modern CMYK colour printing.
His innovative approach employed mezzotint a one-colour printmaking process utilising individual plates for blue, yellow, and red, overlayed to generate varying intensity of color. Prior to this advancement, artists would apply colours side by side on a single printing plate.
Van Dyke’s portrait, part of the Royal Collection (1635-6), was “much copied”, according to Jane Eade, curator for the National Trust, but “only three Le Blon prints of it were known to survive”. Discovering a fourth copy is immensely thrilling, particularly as it remains as the only edition remaining in its historical environment”, she added.
Analysis of the piece helped identify the colours Le Blon is known to have used, such as indigo and carmine or red lake. All of the versions were hand-coloured after printing. Ms Eade said a thick layer of 19th century varnish applied while the artwork was framed and hanging on the wall was “particularly challenging”, but that the conservator was “able to gently clean the surface layer, thinning the varnish in places and smoothing cracks to improve the picture’s appearance”.
The canvas backing was peeling in some places but, since it was likely to be the original backing used by Le Blon’s Picture Office, it was repaired and conserved rather than replaced. Le Blon moved to London in 1718 where, calling himself James Christopher, he was granted a Royal privilege by George I to practice his trichromatic printing. Royal patronage gave him access to Kensington Palace to copy paintings including the Van Dyck of Charles I’s children.
It is not known for certain how and when the print came to Oxburgh Hall, the home of the Bedingfeld family.Royalists and devout Catholics, it is possible that the print arrived at Oxburgh soon after it was created in 1721-22, in the time of the 3rd Baronet, Sir Henry Arundell-Bedingfeld (1689-1760).
Overseeing collections at Oxburgh, Ilana van Dort revealed: “There is now evidence that Henry Arundell-Bedingfeld was a secret Jacobite and van Dyck’s portrayal of the children of Charles I, including the future James II the last Catholic monarch of Britain, would have great resonance and symbolism.
“To have a discovered a fourth is really exciting, especially as it is the only version that remains hanging in its historic setting. James’ exiled son, James Francis Edward Stuart (the ‘Old Pretender’) had attempted to take the throne in the Jacobite rising of 1715 only six years before Le Blon copied van Dyck’s original portrait.
“Copies of this painting are known to been popular with those sympathetic to the Jacobite cause and it would have been quite feasible that the print has spent its whole life at Oxburgh, although we lack enough evidence to prove it.”
Visitors will also be able to view this print at Oxburgh Hall alongside some remarkable 16th-century textile fragments. Discovered during recent building work, these old relics were preserved under the hall’s floorboards and have been expertly conserved.
