Attributed to Jan van Belcamp
Oil on canvas

Centre panel: 254 x 254cm
Side panels: 254 x 119.4cm

Purchased in 1981 through a private treaty sale, and with the aid of grants from:
The Victoria and Albert Museum Grant-in-Aid Fund
The National Heritage Memorial Fund
The National Art-Collections Fund (Fulham Fund)
Eden District Council
Appleby Town Council
Cumbria County Council
South Lakeland District Council
Kendal Town Council
Ferguson Industrial Holdings
Greenwood Charitable Trust
Granton Investments
Dalemain Estates
And other generous donations
 
The Great Picture is a remarkable painted triptych, a form usually reserved for religious works, and was commissioned by Lady Anne Clifford in 1646 to mark her final succession to the inheritance that she had always felt was rightfully hers.

Lady Anne Clifford was born in 1590, the daughter of Margaret Russell and George Clifford, third Earl of Cumberland. Her father, a favourite at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, died in 1605, leaving all of the Clifford estates not to Lady Anne, his only surviving heir, but to his brother, Francis, who became fourth Earl of Cumberland. It was not until the death of the latter, in January 1641, followed two years later by his son, Henry, who left no male heirs, that Lady Anne duly inherited the estates of Westmorland and Yorkshire.

Probably as a result of the Civil War, Lady Anne’s departure from London for the north was delayed until 1649. On her arrival, she found that many of her castles were in ruins, and her estates in great need of repair. She wasted no time in rebuilding her castles at Skipton, Appleby and Brougham, as well as repairing neighbouring churches and settling long running disputes with her tenants. She continued to enjoy the fruits of her inheritance and hard work for the remaining twenty-seven years of her life, and was a greatly respected figure at the time of her death in 1676.

Attribution of the Painting
The identity of the artist is not known for certain, although the painting has traditionally been attributed to Jan van Belcamp (c.1610-1653), a skilled copyist whose work Lady Anne would have known from Knole, in Kent, where she resided with her first husband, Richard Sackville, third Earl of Dorset. In comparison to the more flamboyant, dynamic type of painting typical of artists working in England at that time, influenced by the likes of Anthony van Dyke and Peter Lely, The Great Picture appears rather archaic in style, with its rigid figures and schematic composition. This stiffness and formality is entirely appropriate, however, for a painting whose main function was to present the detailed family history of Lady Anne Clifford with clarity and precision.
 
The Left-hand Panel
The left-hand panel shows Lady Anne Clifford at fifteen, her age when her father died and she was effectively disinherited. The lute, embroidery and books, which include a Bible, the poetry of Ovid and Chaucer, as well as contemporary fiction in the form of the History of Don Quixote, testify to the young Lady Anne’s learning and youthful pursuits. The portraits on the wall above her are of her tutor, Samuel Daniel, and her governess, Mrs Anne Taylour.
 
The face of Lady Anne was based on a miniature portrait still in her possession at the time of the painting’s execution. It has been suggested that the dress she wears in the panel is based on the ‘sea water green satin’ garment that she ordered in 1617 after emerging from mourning following her mother’s death the previous year.
 
The Right-hand Panel
The right-hand panel depicts Lady Anne Clifford at the age of fifty-six, at the time that she commissioned the portrait. This is the only known portrait in The Great Picture painted from life – all the others were copied from existing portraits or miniatures.
 
Her dress is altogether more austere than that worn in the left-hand panel, and the more sober reading material strewn about on the shelves above her reflects the level of seriousness with which she carried out her duties.
 
The framed portraits on the wall are of her two husbands: Richard Sackville, third Earl of Dorset, who died in 1624, and Philip Herbert, fourth Earl of Pembroke and first Earl of Montgomery, whom she married in 1630, and from whom she was already estranged at the time of his death in 1650.
 
The books are in disarray, perhaps reflecting the ruinous state of much of her estates at the time of the painting’s completion, while the faithful whippet and contented cat are her only companions as she enters old age.
 
The scroll of paper hanging from the table’s edge was left blank at the bottom for someone to fill in after Lady Anne’s death, but remains incomplete.
 
The Central Panel
Lady Anne does not feature in the central panel – rather, it represents the moment in time shortly before her birth. Framed either side by coats of arms stand her parents, Margaret Russell and George Clifford, third Earl of Cumberland, as well as her two elder brothers: Francis, who died at age five in 1589, and Robert, who died at age six in 1591.
 
In addition to her immediate family, portraits of other family members hang behind the standing figures. From left to right, they are:
At top left, Lady Wharton (1556-1605)
At bottom left, Lady Margaret Clifford, Countess of Derby (1540-1596)
Anne, Countess of Warwick (1548-1604)
Elizabeth, Countess of Bath (1558-1605)
 
An inscription states that these eight portraits are ‘copies drawen out of the Originall pictures of Honourable personages, made by them, about the begening of June, 1589, and were thus finished by the Appointment of Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, in memoriall of them in 1646’.

Display History
The Great Picture hung in Appleby Castle for over three hundred years. It is believed that the Appleby painting, now belonging to the Lakeland Arts Trust, is the original, while an inferior copy, now lost and which is known only through a watercolour copy made in the 19th century, hung in Skipton Castle.
 
In 1981, the Lakeland Arts Trust seized the opportunity to purchase The Great Picture, along with 58 related portraits, at a greatly reduced price in order to keep the works in Cumbria. The intention was that The Great Picture would continue to hang in Appleby Castle on long term loan for all to enjoy. Sadly, Appleby Castle subsequently closed its doors to the public, and The Great Picture had to be brought to Abbot Hall, where the two side panels remain on permanent display. Unfortunately, the large central panel cannot be accommodated in the building at present, although this is a situation that we are looking into.
 
The complete triptych was lent to the Art Treasures of England exhibition held at the Royal Academy in London in 1998. From March 2003 until October 2004, The Great Picture was the subject of a special display at Tate Britain.