Keywords: Hester Bowyer.jpg Artwork Creator Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen other date between 1630 1640 oil on canvas cm 74 61 5 Institution Government Art Collection British Embassy The Hague place of discovery object history exhibition history credit line The Government Art Collection identifies this portrait possibly based on the claims written on a 19th-century label verso as the celebrated portrait of the beautiful Hester Lady Bowyer née Aucher d 1665 described by Horace Walpole as The Star in the East However there was more than one Lady Bowyer named Hester in the 17th century and the details of the sitter's dress are more consistent with an earlier date the GAC itself dates the portrait to 1630-40 It is likely that this is instead a portrait of Hester Skeffington who married Sir William Bowyer c 1588 - 1641 Compare the portrait below also by Johnson also identified as Hester Aucher who married Sir Edmund Bowyer 1613-1681 as a better candidate for Walpole's Star in the East accession number 1641 place of creation http //www gac culture gov uk/work aspx obj 13961 object page; previous upload was http //www bbc co uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/lady-hester-bowyer-d-1665-28563 here <gallery>Lady Bowyer by Cornelis Jonson van Ceulen jpg The Star in the East </gallery> PD-old-100 Uploaded with UploadWizard Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen 17th-century oil on canvas paintings in the United Kingdom 17th-century oil portraits of women at half length 17th-century portrait paintings in the United Kingdom Women of England in art Government Art Collection paintings Women facing left and looking at viewer in art Black and white clothing in art female Black and white dresses in art Females with black dresses in art Three-quarter view portrait paintings of women Décolleté in art Portrait paintings with black background Puff sleeves 1665 deaths Black and white stripes Vertical stripes Striped clothing in art Striped dresses Females with ribbons in art White ribbons Lace collars in art Portrait paintings of women with hair flowers Blue flowers in art Female brown hair in art Curly hair in art female Portraits wearing necklaces Females with pearl necklaces in art Women with pearl necklaces Images from BBC Your Paintings Portrait paintings with neutral background |