Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.403
Gallery Label:
William Larkin was the most fashionable painter at the court of James I by the mid-1610s. The son of a London baker, Larkin grew up in the parish of St. Sepulchre without Newgate, an area popular among artists and other artisans. By 1612 he had established a workshop in the parish of St. Anne Blackfriars, near the banks of the river Thames. The identity of this sitter is not known, but to judge from Larkin’s other patrons he must have been an important figure within the Jacobean court. It is also likely that this individual was a friend or relation of Gray Brydges, fifth Baron Chandos, whose companion portrait hangs nearby. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016