Oil on canvas. The early history of this portrait and its counterpart, depicting Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, is unknown, but they may have reached Mote Park, near Maidstone, seat of the Lords Romney, by 1795, when the author of â€Historical Genealogy of the Royal House of Stuarts’ referred to portraits of Frederick and Elizabeth at the house. He attributed them to Cornelius Johnson and commented on the sitters: â€his person is good; she, though not handsome, is far more so than either of her parents: their misfortunes seem depicted in their countenances.’ Conservative politician Charles Marsham, Forth Earl of Romney attempted to sell the pair through Christie’s in 1888 but they failed to sell. His daughter in law, Anne, Countess of Romney tried again in 1906, but they again remained unsold. In 1895 the paintings were sold with the rest of the Mote Park estate to Marcus Samuel, First Viscount Bearsted. In 1929 Walter Samuel, the Second Viscount sold the majority of the estate to Maidstone Borough Council (then the Maidstone Corporation) for ÂŁ50,000 and converted the house to an orphanage. The paintings were again auctioned through Christie’s, although it is not known who bought them. They were acquired for the Government Art Collection when they passed through Christie’s for a final time in 1951.
