Portrait of Frances Bell, Lady Dering
by GHEERAERTS, Marcus the Younger, Oil on panel, 59 x 44 cm
Frances Bell, Lady Dering (1577-1657) was the daughter of Sir Robert Bell (1539-1577), Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth I. She married Sir Anthony Dering of Surrenden Manor, Puckly, Kent in 1596.
The sitter wears a dress or waistcoat embroidered with strawberries, honeysuckle, oak leaves, acorns, borgage, grapes, pansies, and gillyflowers, under a white gown, with a ruff, cap, and stiffened veil.