On Painted Panels at Sandwich

(• 142 ) OLD PAINTED PANELS AT SANDWICH. BY THOMAS DORMAN. I HAVE been asked to give some account of the old pictures which have lately been presented to the Corporation of Sandwich by Mrs. Jolliffe. In addition to their special value to the town, as representing an interesting event in its history, they are also well worth the attention of the eonnoisseur as works of art; and their return to the old town, after an absence of nearly thirty years, forms an interesting episode in their history. About fifty years ago, in an old house in Harnet Street, Sandwich, then occupied by its owner, Mr. Henry Standley, it was discovered that under the plastering of a large room on the, first floor there were some paintings in oil, upon fir panels. The plastering was cleared away, and the pictures were visited by many of the curious. As might be expected, they were very dingy, and few placed much value upon them, though their antiquity gave them some interest. The old house has since been pulled down. I may mention that another room in the same house had been decorated with tapestry, but only mere rags and traces of it remained when the house was demolished. Shortly before his death, in 1856, Mr. Standley, whose wife had formerly been in the employment of Lady Ashburnham, presented the pictures to her ladyship, then residing at Southwood House, St. Lawrence, Thanet, and they were removed thither. At Southwood House they remained until after her ladyship's decease, when the house, with its furniture, including these pictures, was purchased by Admiral Jolliffe. At his death they passed to his widow, who for a time removed them to London. The Eev. A. M. Chichester, Vicar of St. Clement and St. Mary, Sandwich, having seen these pictures at Mrs. -., wM m Wetf •*» H#* T ,„ N° 1. PAINTED PANEL AT SANDWICH, PROCESSION PASSING THROUGH CANTERBURY GATE, RICHBOROUGH HILL IS SEEN IN THE BACKGROUND ON THE LEFT, OLD PAINTED PANELS AT SANDWICH. 143 Jolliffe's, suggested to her that, connected as they were with the history of Sandwich, their proper place of deposit would be the old town. At his suggestion Mrs. Jolliffe, in December 18.82, on the application of the Mayor, Mr. W. J. Hughes, very kindly presented them to the Corporation, who are now arranging one of the rooms in the Guildhall for their fitting exhibition. About two years ago, Mrs. Jolliffe had them carefully cleaned, and they have now a very different appearance from what I can remember them to have had formerly, the colours being in capital preservation. They are thirteen in number, painted upon fir panels, all but one being about 4 feet high and 3 feet wide. Pour of them shew three-quarter-length life-sized portraits of Charles II. , his Queen, Katharine of Braganza, his brother James, Duke of York, as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and a Mayor of Sandwich, in his robes. Pour other panels represent a royal procession, and the presentation of an address by the Mayor and Jurats to the Queen. There can be no doubt that the Queen and the Mayor, in the procession, are the same as those in the portraits. The first picture on the right hand, as they were placed in the room when found, represents, I believe, Canterbury Gate, with gentlemen and others passing under it, on horseback, to meet the Queen. Infantry are presenting arms in the foreground, and some guns are being discharged towards the left, where a mill is also shewn. In the next picture is the head of the Queen's procession. Two carriages are shewn; one with six creamcoloured horses, beside which eight pages walk bareheaded. Two gentlemen are in this carriage ; one of whom, I suggest, is the Duke of York. In the background are drawn up infantry and artillery upon the walls of the town, which give some faint impression of the town walls at the Butts near Canterbury Gate, as still remaining. There are also the heads of two brown horses that really belong to the next picture, which represents the Queen's coach, drawn by six brown horses; containing her Majesty and another lady. The Mayor, attended by two mace-bearers, and six Jurats, is presenting the address, while in the background are the walls of the town, with the train-bands and artillery drawn 144 OLD PAINTED PANELS AT SANDWICH. up. In the last picture are six more Jurats, and two coaches with four horses each, followed by two trumpeters on horseback. The first coach contains a lady and gentleman, and in the other are two children. In the centre of the picture is a group of children scrambling for coin, and on the left we see a body of musqueteers with their Captain. Pour other pictures, which occupied another side of the room, represent a panoramic view of some naval engagement between the English and the Dutch, very probably, as I shall presently suggest, the Battle of Solebay, fought on the 28th May 1672, in which the Earl of Sandwich lost his life. The title of this earl gives a local interest to the battle in which he perished. The last picture, which is about 5 feet 3 inches long, but only 15 inches high, contains a representation of the Pleet in the Downs, with the Isle of Thanet in the background. When endeavouring to ascertain the date of the events recorded in these pictures, my attention was first directed to a small work, published in 1848 by Mr. Oscar Baker, entitled Antiquities of Sandwich and Bichborough, in which he states that the procession represents the visit of Charles I I . and his Queen in 1659, when Mr. Thomas Browne was Mayor. As the King was not married till the 21st May 1662, and there is no record of the King and Queen ever having come together, Mr. Baker is clearly mistaken. Mr. Eoach Smith, in a communication to the Antiquary this year, says that Mr. Pairholt, who had seen the pictures shortly after their discovery, stated that, from a curious MS. account of the Mayors of Sandwich, compiled by John Granger, then in the late Mr. W. H. Rolfe's possession, it seemed probable that Tobias Cleere was the Mayor, and the 4th May 1670 the date of the Queen's visit, which is thus described : " The 4 day of May, being Saturday, our noble Queen Katharan came to this Toune with a great trayn, and there was a royall bankett provyded for her sacred majesty and for all the queene's trayne at Master Mayor's doore, because the Queene desyred not to come out of the coach but rid to Deale castle that night." Boys gives a somewhat similar account, omitting the JH^M&XJ I -*) N°2. PAINTED PANEf. AT SANDWICH. CARRIAGES OF THE QUEENS ATTENDANTS; ON THE RIGHT ARE SIX JURATS OF SANDWICH APPROACHING THE QUEENS CARRIAGE. ...-: ... V ----•>-, , N° 3 PAINTED PANEL AT SANDWICH, THE MAYOR AND JURATS PRESENTING AM ADDRESS TO QUEEM KATHEfilNE OF BRAGANZA. OLD PAINTED PANELS AT SANDWICH. 145 day of the week, under the date of "1670, Tobias Cleere, Mayor." He states that it is drawn from papers in his own possession. As Boys's papers came into the hands of Mr. Eolfe, Boys's account was probably derived from the same document; the spelling, however, is different. This document has not been discovered, but Mr. Chichester possesses a MS., which came from Mr. Eolfe's papers, entitled, " This is a true coppy of the names of all the Mayors that have been in the Town and Port of Sandwich, since the 3rd year of King Henry the 5th, so far as John Granger can find out." John Granger appears to have been first sergeant-at-maee at that period. In this MS., which appears to be a copy of the original, under date of " 1671, Master Bartholomew Cooms, Mayor," there is this sentence : " The 4 day of May our noble Queen Katharine came to this Town with a great train, and there was a Eoyal Banquet provided for her sacred Majesty and for all her train at Master Mayor's door, because the Queen desired not to come out of the coach but rid to Deal Castle that night." It is added, "The 6 day of May, Mr. Mayor broke his black staff upon his Sargant's sholders, whose name was Thos. Garris, when the guns were to be mounted at Canterbury gate." Thomas Garris was second sergeant-at-mace at this period, and probably the " drinke " to be presently mentioned had got into his head, while the Mayor had hardly recovered from the excitement caused by entertaining aQueeh. As the Mayors were chosen on the Monday after St. Andrew's Day, I must point out that the 4th of May, during Cleere's Mayoralty, fell in the year 1671; and when Coombes was Mayor, it fell in 1672. I must further observe that May the 4th in 1671 was a Thursday, while in 1672 it was a Saturday. There are other rolls of the Mayors in existence, all which give 1671, Bartholomew Coombes, Mayor, and the 4th May as the date of the Queen's visit; and in one it is mentioned that " the Maior with the Juratts and the train bands met her wthout the gate and conducted her into the towne, but it being late she did not tarry but went to Deal that night." I copy this to shew that the address was presented VOL. XV, i 146 OLD PAINTED PANELS AT SANDWICH. without the Gate, and that would be outside Canterbury Gate. In the Land Treasurer's Accounts, however, among the Eecords of the Corporation, under date 1671-72, Bartholomew Coombes, Mayor, I have found the following entries among the payments:— & s. d. It. for drinke for yc gunners att John Murtons when they were fitting ye guns ag" y° Queens comeing thrdugh the Towne 0 2 0 It. for drinke att Enoch Outings when they had done 0 2 0 It. to John Hutton for 12 catharages (cartridges) 0 0 6 It. att the raiseing and planting the Great Guns att Oant. Gate for drinke for the gunners John Wheeler and others att y° Wid. Skinners in the morneing 0 2 6 It. more for drinke for them att "Wid. Casehyes in y° afternoon 0 2 0 It. more for drinke for the other seamen & labourers att John Hyndes : 0 2 0 It. for paper to make catharages & for twine & starch used that day 0 1 4 It. for small nayles used there 0 0 2 It. for a rawe sheepe skinne* y° wool on 0 1 0 It. for Adams for 6 Lintstocks 0 1 0 It. more for 5 Bammer heads 0 0 10 It. to a hoy for carrieing home the lince pins from Cant. Gate to my house 0 0 2 It, to Mr Elsted's company jor getting the carriages out. of the Co' of guard & helping mounting the guns hy the Mayor's order 0 10 0 It. more for paper twine thread & starch to make more catharages... 0 0 11J It. for drinke fetcht from John Hyndes then & the time before when the men made the catharages in y° hall 0 2 4 It. spent on John Hutton and Henry Grant att Jeffery Ellotts after they had heene the most p'te of the day makeing of the catharages 0 1 8 It, to Thomas Shelvy for fetching the crane ropes and canhooks (?) ' from M.r Wiseman to Walter Bakers 0 0 4 I think these extracts clear up all doubts, and we are warranted in concluding that the date of the Queen's visit was May 4,1672, and that Mr. Bartholomew Coombes is the Mayor whose portrait we possess. The Battle of Solebay occurred twenty-four days after the Queen's visit; and this would probably account for its appearance in conjunction with the other pictures, as his worship would very probably like to commemorate two such importants events occurring during his mayoralty, as the Eoyal visit to Sandwich, and the death of the celebrated Earl of Sandwich, Admiral of the * TJBed probably round the ropes to -prevent the hands being torn by them. m " i Ii 4tmm N° 4. PAINTED PANEL AT SANDWICH. CARRIAGE OF KING CHARLES 2"° OR THE DUKE OF YORK. OLD PAINTED PANELS AT SANDWICH. 147 Blue. This, however, supposes that the house in Harnet Street at one time belonged to Mr. Coombes, but I have been unable to trace in the title-deeds, which do not reach back further than 1742, any reference to him, or to Mr. Tobias Cleere; while I must admit that, though the house in Harnet Street was in St. Mary's Parish, Mr. Coombes was buried in St. Clement's in 1694, Dec. 23, and was described in the burial register as a housekeeper. On the other hand, Mr. Tobias Cleere did die in St. Mary's parish, 1679, Sept. 2, though he was buried at St. Clement's. It is possible, however, that Mr. Coombes may have left his house in Harnet Street before his death; but, whatever the explanation may be, that Mr. Coombes was Mayor at the time of the Queen's visit, and that 1672 was the date, I consider to be conclusively proved by the Treasurer's book. I t remains to ascertain, if possible, who the painter was; but this I must leave to connoisseurs, as there are no marks or names upon the panels, except that upon one of the ship's flags are the letters P P P. Many have suggested that they are by the celebrated William Van de Velde* the younger, and certainly, after an examination of the pictures by that artist at Hampton Court Palace, I must say the marine pictures are very much like his, and might well be by the same hand. I admit, however, that Van de Velde's picture of the Battle of Solebay (at which he was present by the Duke of York's order) in the possession of the Marquis of Bute, and lately, if not now, on exhibition at the Bethnal Green Museum, gives a very different representation of that battle. Possibly they may depict different periods of the same battle; but, whosoever the painter may be, none can doubt that he was an artist of great merit, and the town of Sandwich has much reason to feel greatly indebted to Mrs. Jolliffe for the acquisition of a very valuable series of paintings. * It is not much to the point, but I find upon a copy of Pilkin'gton's' Dictionary of Painting, formerly belonging to the late Mr. Eolfe, the following note in pencil under the head of Van de Velde, Adrian : " W. Eolfe, Esq., will excuse this liberty. Painting in the house of Matson at Sandwich by this Artist 15 | 10 | 52. T. Jull, Deal." Boys mentions Valder as a name in Sandwich in his time, derived from Van Velde or Van de Velda. I believe it is now extinct. * 3