Frances Earle and Her Children
by GHEERAERTS, Marcus the Younger, Oil on canvas, 160 x 145 cm
The sitter of this portrait is identified as of Frances Earle (n�e Fountaine, 1592-1675)) in an opulently embroidered dress sitting in a chair holding a watch, with her eldest daughter and eldest son John Earle on a portico; their dog sleeps beneath the chair.
This is a late painting by the artist. At this very late date, the technique of his paintings on canvas has a very different appearance from his more enamel-like portraits of oak panel. They are altogether drier in appearance.