ENGLISH SCHOOL (17TH CENTURY)PORTRAIT OF JOANNA BOEVEY, FULL LENGTH IN A BLACK AND BROWN DRESS WITH EMBROIDERED SLEEVES HOLDING A PAIR OF GLOVESOil on panelInscribed 'ANNO 1616/ ANNO BOEVE/AETATIS SVAE 11-'143.5 x 95.3cm (56¼ x 37½ in.)In an 18th Century carved giltwood frame. Provenance:Probably commissioned by Andreas Boevey (1566-1625), and by descent at Flaxley Abbey, Gloucestershire, until sold Flaxley Abbey, Gloucestershire: Catalogue of the Valuable Contents, Bruton, Knowles & Co., 29 March - 5 April 1960, lot 1296.Bought by Mr and Mrs Frederick Baden-Watkins and thence by descent at Flaxley AbbeyLiterature:Arthur W. Crawley-Boevey, A Brief Account of the Antiquities, Family Pictures and Other Notable Articles at Flaxley Abbey, co. Gloucester, Bristol, 1912, p. 11, no. 1; p. 12. In the 1960 sale of the house contents of Flaxley Abbey, Gloucestershire, this painting was ascribed to 'Sandvort'. The portrait represents Joanna Boevey (1605-64) as a young girl, aged 11, daughter of Andreas Boevey (1566-1625), a Dutch Huguenot emigré, merchant, financier and elder of the Dutch church at Austin Friars. Joanna married Abraham de Clerke (also Dutch, anglicised to Clarke). After 1654, James I transferred the Flaxley estate to Joanna's brother, William Boevey, who gifted a share to his sister, and directed that the remainder be sold after his death for the benefit of his wife. In 1661, Joanna bought out her sister-in-law, and lived at Flaxley with her son, Abraham Clarke the younger. On Abraham's death in 1683, he bequeathed the estate to his cousin, also named William Boevey (1657-92), son of his half-uncle, James (J. Lees-Milne, 'Flaxley Abbey, Gloucestershire - I: The Home of Mr. and Mrs. F.B. Watkins',Country Life, 29 March 1973, pp. 844-845).A second painting of Joanna as an adult is recorded at Flaxley in 1912, and at this date was tentatively attributed to Cornelius Jansen (1585-1638) (A.W. Crawley-Boevey, A Brief Account of the Antiquities, Family Pictures and Other Notable Articles at Flaxley Abbey, co. Gloucester, Bristol, 1912, p. 11, no. 2; p. 13).