Called Dorothy Saunders, Lady Bridgeman (oil on canvas)

Called Dorothy Saunders, Lady Bridgeman (d.1697) possibly by Jacob Huysmans (Antwerp c.1630 – London 1696), and a later c.19th artist, inscribed in late 18th or early 19th century, with name of sitter, lower right: Lady Bridgeman. A three-quarter length portrait of a young woman, later to be the mother of Charlotte Bridgeman who married Thomas Myddelton IV in 1677, turned three-quarters to right, gazing to right, ringlet hanging over her right shoulder, wearing a single-strand pearl necklet, and a blue and gold décolleté dress with ermine lined sleeves and blue drapery, standing by a stone table on which lie some peonies, her right hand rests on the table and she is picking orange blossom with her left hand. She was the wife of Sir Orlando Bridgeman whom she married in 1648 and mother of Charlotte Bridgeman who was the second wife of Sir Thomas Myddelton, 2nd Bt. whom she married in 1677. Most of the surface of this picture consists of 19th century restoration. If the ermine is part of the original, this cannot have been Lady Bridgeman.