Artwork

Portrait of Sir Thomas Gresham, pendant to portrait of Anne Fernely

Portrait of Sir Thomas Gresham, pendant to portrait of Anne Fernely is an oil painting by the Northern Renaissance artist Antonis Mor. It dates from 1563 and is held in the collection of the Hermitage Museum.

About this work

Subject & Meaning

Sir Thomas Gresham is shown in contemporary Elizabethan attire, emphasizing his role as a prominent financier and founder of the Royal Exchange.

The pendant portraits depict Sir Thomas Gresham and his wife Anne Fernely, painted in 1563 by Antonis Mor. The works belong to the Northern Renaissance tradition of paired marriage portraits, conveying conjugal status, social standing, and shared identity through formal symmetry and close composition.

Sir Thomas Gresham is shown in contemporary Elizabethan attire, emphasizing his role as a prominent financier and founder of the Royal Exchange. The portrait’s sober palette and restrained elegance reflect the sitter’s mercantile authority and civic contribution, while the pendant’s pairing underscores the partnership between husband and wife within the domestic and public spheres of the period.

Technique & Style

Executed in oil on oak panel, the pendant portraits are characterized by a restrained, linear handling typical of mid-16th-century Northern European court portraiture. The sitters are rendered with precise, incisive contours and smooth, evenly lit flesh tones, avoiding visible brushwork or textural detail. Backgrounds are neutral and dark, focusing attention on the figures’ sober expressions and meticulously depicted costume, including Gresham’s ruff collar and fur-lined garment.

No evidence of significant later intervention is recorded, and the works remain in stable condition, retaining their original oak supports without visible warping or paint loss.

History & Provenance

Created in 1563 in Antwerp, the portrait of Sir Thomas Gresham was painted by Antonis Mor on a panel support. The work serves as a pendant to a portrait of Anne Fernely. Its ownership history traces from Sir Thomas Gresham to Robert Walpole, who later sold the painting to Catherine II of Russia. The portrait currently resides in the collection of the Rijksmuseum and the Hermitage Museum.

The pendant portraits of Sir Thomas Gresham and Anne Fernely are held jointly by the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

The Rijksmuseum accession number for the portrait of Sir Thomas Gresham is SK-C-1352, while the Hermitage Museum holds the counterpart portrait of Anne Fernely as inv. GE-7454. Both works were included in the exhibition Remember Me, mounted at the Rijksmuseum.

Overview

Created in 1563 by the Netherlandish portraitist Antonis Mor, this panel portrait forms one half of a companion pair with the likeness of Anne Fernely. The work presents Sir Thomas Gresham, a leading English financier and diplomat, seated against a plain dark backdrop that concentrates the viewer’s focus on his dignified bearing.

Context

Produced during the Northern Renaissance, the painting exemplifies the cross‑cultural exchange of artistic ideas, as Mor worked for various European courts. The work reflects the era’s emphasis on individual status and the emerging practice of documenting prominent figures through refined, courtly portraiture.

Portraits of Sir Thomas Gresham and Anne Fernely, Antonis Mor

Own this work as a print

Artist & collection

Artist

Antonis Mor

Anthonis Mor, also known as Anthonis Mor van Dashorst and Antonio Moro (c. 1517 – 1577), was a Netherlandish portrait painter, much in demand by the courts of Europe. He has also been referred to as Antoon, Anthonius,…