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- Titles Charles IX, King of France (Descriptive)
- Artist Workshop of François Clouet, French, before 1520 - 1572
- Medium oil on panel
- Dimensions 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm) frame: 20 1/2 × 17 5/8 × 2 3/4 in. (52.1 × 44.8 × 7 cm)
- Credit Line Museum purchase with funds provided by the 1982 Beaux Arts Krewe, 1982.125
- Work Type painting
- Classification Paintings
- On View
- Signature Unsigned
- Marks None
- Inscription None
- Provenance Collection of the Cecil family at Burghley House, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, after 1723 and before 1763, perhaps acquired after 1754 by Brownlow Cecil (1725-1793), the 9th Earl of Exeter [see note 1]; inherited by his son William Alleyne Cecil (1825-1895), 3rd Marquess of Exeter (1825-1895); auctioned at Ancient & Modern Pictures, the property of the Marquis of Exeter, from Burghley House, Christie's, London, June 9, 1888, lot 282 [see note 2]. Edward Charles Baring (1828–1897), 1st Baron Revelstoke; auctioned at Ancient and Modern pictures, Christie’s, London, June 3, 1893, lot 55; purchased by “Sir T. Sinclair,” likely Sir John George Tollemache Sinclair, 3rd Baronet of Ulbster (1825-1912) [see note 3]; inherited by his grandson Archibald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso of Ulbster (1890-1970); inherited by his son Robin MacDonald Sinclair, 2nd Viscount Thurso of Ulbster (1922-1995) [see note 4]. Auctioned at Christie’s, London, March 7, 1980, lot 22. Auctioned at Fine Old Master Pictures, Christie’s, London, October 31, 1980, lot 130. Purchased by dealer Patrick Weiller, Paris; purchased by the Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama, 1982
1. Per correspondence with Jon Culverhouse, Curator of Burghley House, from June 25 and July 2, 2018. The inventory of 1763 lists the painting as “Charles ye 9th” as hanging in the Japan Closet (1st floor, SW corner). The portrait was not included in the earlier inventories from 1688 and 1723. Brownlow Cecil assumed his titles in 1754.
2. The painting here attributed to “Janet” (for Clouet) and the sitter identified as Charles IX.
3. According to an annotated auction catalogue at the Getty Research Institute.
4. Offered by unsold at auction, Fine Old Master Pictures, Christie’s, London, July 30, 1976, lot 139. Per communication from Christie’s via email on August 3, 2018, the painting “appears to have been bought in.”