Oil on canvas, oval, 73.7cm by 61cm.
Inscribed on the relining: Dr. Gregory Haschard, Dean of Windsor, by Riley.
Dr. Haschard (d1708), who is shown wearing the Insignia of the Order of the Bath, was a member of the Order of Little Bedlam, a gentlemen’s drinking club established by John, 5th Earl of Exeter (1648-1700), in 1684.
Amusingly, his fellow club member, the Italian artist Antonio Verrio (1636-1707) portrayed the rather severe, sober-looking dean as a decidedly inebriated Bacchus, god of wine, on one of his painted ceilings at Burghley.
John Riley painted both Charles II and James II and was court painter to William III and Mary II. One of his pupils was Jonathan Richardson (1667-1745).
