Oil on canvas, 121.9cm by 97.8cm.
Elizabeth Drury, the daughter of Sir William Drury (1550-1590) of Hawstead Place, Suffolk, was the earl’s second wife.
There were three daughters from the marriage and on the 2nd Earl’s death, the title passed to his nephew, David.
The Countess, who appears here as a fashionably dressed young woman, is also the subject of another portrait at Burghley, PIC191, which shows her later in life, dressed as a widow.
Joan Carlisle, one of the first women in England to paint professionally, became a highly accomplished portrait painter.
