Edward Luttrell Lady, Full Length Portrait

An original 1683 pastel drawing, Edward Luttrell, Lady, Full Length Portrait.

An accomplished full length portrait in pastel bearing the signature 'ELuttrell fe' and date 1683. The laid paper bears a 17th-century Angoumois fleur de lis watermark, otherwise known as the 'Strassburgian Lily', with crowned armour and number 4 and WR (Wendelin Riehl) countermark. The lower part of the watermark is all but indistinguishable due the heavy, dark application of pastel, but the crown, fleur de lis, '4' and 'W' are discernable. Underneath would likely be the Jesuit symbol 'IHS with cross'. Please see images for further detail.Edward Luttrell (c.1650–1737) was an English pastellist and mezzotint engraver. An early champion of the pastel medium, he fervently defended working in pure pastel on paper, saying: 'it will not only have the freedome and strength of a painting but the neatness and beauty of Limning. And with the free and soft Crayons anything that is or can be painted may be expressed whatever the ignorant say to the Contrary.'The sitter of the portrait is unknown. The subject resembles the court portraiture of Anthony Van Dyck, Sir Peter Lely, and Sir Godfrey Kneller—and could indeed be a copy after a mezzotint. The lady is presented full length and front-facing, conferring an authority previously the preserve of royal portraiture in the 15th and 16th centuries. She is surrounded by sweeping curtain, classical urn and flowers, all common tropes of 17th century portraiture.This drawing is pictured under the Luttrell entry in Neil Jeffares scholarly 'Dictionary of pastellists before 1800', which also provides excellent further reading.