Oil on canvas, 116.8cm by 95.25cm.
Mary Rich (née Boyle), was an Irishwoman of deep faith, renowned for her love of literature and the diaries she kept for the last eleven years of her life, which provided a valuable record of dates and events after the Restoration.
She had been a maid of honour to Queen Henrietta Maria before her marriage in 1641 to Charles Rich, who in 1659 inherited as 4th Earl of Warwick.
Her son Charles (1643-1664) was the first husband of Anne Cavendish (1649-1703) who was to become the wife of John, 5th Earl of Exeter in 1670.
Edmund Ashfield was a portrait painter who worked in both oils and pastels, the latter of which were highly finished.
He was also known as a copyist, in particular of van Dyck.
