A work of art displayed at a National Trust site and viewed by thousands every year has been revealed as an extraordinary survivor of a design by an engraver credited with the conception of color printing.
The artwork, believed to be a replica of the portrait of Sir Anthony van Dyck, the 'Three eldest children of King Charles I', which hung in Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk, was initially thought to be oil on paper.
When it was sent for conservation treatment to the Trust's Royal Oak Conservation Studio in Knole, Kent, it was determined to be an exceptional print by Jacob Christoff Le Blon, an 18th century printmaker.
Le Blon, a German artist and engraver who died in 1741 at the age of 73, introduced the world to three-color printing, a precursor to modern CMYK color printing.
His innovative approach used mezzotint, a single-color printing process that used separate plates for blue, yellow and red, superimposed to generate varying color intensity. Before these advances, artists applied colors side by side on a single printing plate.
Van Dyke's portrait, part of the Royal Collection (1635-6), was “much copied”, according to Jane Eade, curator of the National Trust, but “only three Le Blon prints of it were known”. Discovering a fourth copy is extremely exciting, especially as it remains the only edition surviving in its historic setting,” she added.
Analysis of the piece helped identify the colors Le Blon is known to have used, such as indigo and carmine or lake red. All versions are colored by hand after printing. Ms Eade said that applying a thick layer of 19th-century varnish while the artwork was framed and hanging on the wall was “particularly challenging” but that the restorer “was able to gently clean the surface layer, removing the varnish on some thinning places and smoothing out cracks'. improve the appearance of the photo”.
The canvas backing was peeling in places, but as it was probably the original backing used by Le Blon's Picture Office, it was repaired and preserved rather than replaced. Le Blon moved to London in 1718, where, calling himself James Christopher, he was granted a royal privilege by George I to practice his trichromatic printing art. Royal patronage gave him access to Kensington Palace to copy paintings, including the Van Dyck of Charles I's children.
It is not known for certain how and when the print came to Oxburgh Hall, the home of the Bedingfeld family. Royalists and devout Catholics, it is possible that the print arrived in Oxburgh soon after it was made in 1721-22, during the time of the 3rd Baronet, Sir Henry Arundell-Bedingfeld (1689-1760).
Ilana van Dort, who oversaw the collections at Oxburgh, revealed: 'There is now evidence that Henry Arundell-Bedingfeld was a secret Jacobite and that Van Dyck's portrayal of the children of Charles I, including the future James II, the last Catholic monarch of Great Britain, would have had major consequences. resonance and symbolism.
'It's very exciting to have discovered a fourth, especially as it's the only version that sticks in its historical setting. James' exiled son, James Francis Edward Stuart (the 'Old Pretender') had attempted to take the throne in the Jacobite rising of 1715, just six years before Le Blon copied Van Dyck's original portrait.
“It is known that copies of this painting were popular with those sympathetic to the Jacobite cause and it may well have been that the print spent its entire life in Oxburgh, although we do not have enough evidence to prove this.”
Visitors can also view this print in Oxburgh Hall, alongside some remarkable 16th-century textile fragments. These ancient remains, discovered during recent building work, were preserved under the floorboards of the hall and have been expertly preserved.