On vellum, in a rectangular dark-stained fruitwood veneer frame, 16cm by 19.7cm. Signed with the monogram ‘ND’ and dated 1668.
Anne Cavendish (1649-1703), only daughter of the 3rd Earl and Countess of Devonshire, was briefly married, when very young, to Charles Rich, heir to the Earl of Warwick. In 1670, after his early death, she married John, 5th Earl of Exeter (1648-1700).
She is depicted here with her younger brother Charles and a young black page.
Although in the past there seems to have been some uncertainty as to the identity of the young lady, it is clearly confirmed by the 1690 Devonshire Schedule, an inventory of an immense bequest from the Countess of Devonshire (1619-1689) to her daughter Anne, by then Countess of Exeter: ‘A Picture of the Present Countess of Exeter to the knees with her Brother and A Blackamore boy by Dixon.’
