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This is a half-length portrait of an unknown man, facing forwards, thought to have been a benefactor to the Company. It has been speculated that the painting may depict John Kendrick, a merchant, and later a citizen and draper of London in 1624 or William Breary, a merchant adventurer and alderman of York in 1637 who was Governor from 1611–1614 and 1632–1635. He wears a black robe with white cuffs, a ruff, and a black skull cap edged with lace. In his left hand he holds a red book. His right hand rests on a skull. The gold ring on his left hand is inlaid with a carved skull, echoing the real one on which his other hand rests, the ring may have had a merchants mark on the other side of the bezel. In the seventeenth century skulls in portraits symbolised an awareness of mortality.
Merchant Adventurers’ Hall
York
Title
Portrait of an Unknown Man
Date
c.1610
Medium
oil on wood panel
Measurements
H 89 x W 69 cm
Accession number
YORMA 345
Work type
Painting
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Merchant Adventurers’ Hall
Fossgate, York, North Yorkshire YO1 9XD England
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A mouse-eye view of the Merchant Adventurers' Hall, YorkThe wooden mouse of Merchant Adventurers' Hall