An oval, on vellum, in a rectangular dark-stained fruitwood veneer frame, 7cm.
Lady Elizabeth Howard (c.1622-1705), second daughter of Theophilus, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, married in 1642, as his second wife, Algernon, 10th Earl of Northumberland (1602-1668), who had previously been married to Lady Anne Cecil (1612-1637), elder sister of Elizabeth, Countess of Devonshire.
The sitter and the countess were cousins and close friends.
The miniature was part of an enormous bequest from Elizabeth, Countess of Devonshire (1619-1689), to her daughter, Anne, Countess of Exeter (1649-1703), recorded in an inventory known as the 1690 Devonshire Schedule, or Deed of Gift.
This lists: ‘A picture of the Earle of Northumberlands second wife by Cooper.’
