A Lady as a Shepherdess

The discreetly bejewelled shepherdess clearly once carried a palm of martyrdom in her left hand which, with the lamb and the prominent, distant tower, suggests she was first painted as St Agnes, the patroness of those about to be married. Historically she has been identified with no.78 in Cartwright's inventory, described as 'my first wifes pictur Like a Sheppardess...'. However, a label on the verso identifies the picture almost certainiy as no.186, which occurs on one of the missing pages of the inventory. The hairstyle and costume suggest a date in the mid-1660s.