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Notes
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Evelyn records in his Diary that he sat to Walker on 1 July 1648, and that his portrait was intended to accompany a treatise on marriage which he had written for his young wife Mary Browne. The portrait originally showed him holding a miniature or medal of his wife. The skull was substituted some years later, with the Greek motto (top) signifying: 'Repentance is the beginning of Wisdom', and the quotation in Latin from Seneca on the importance of preparing for death.
Title
John Evelyn
Date
1648
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 87.9 x W 64.1 cm
Accession number
6179
Acquisition method
Purchased with help from the Art Fund, the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Dame Helen Gardner Bequest, 1992
Work type
Painting