Lost Treasures revisited – Sir Peter Temple portrait

18 November 2015

We continue our look back at the Lost Treasures of Stowe campaign. 

2015 update: This portrait of Peter Temple is now displayed in the North Hall here at Stowe.

9 September 2013

Earlier this month we were contacted by John Matthews, a historian with a keen interest in the Temple family of Stowe. He was conducting research into the portraits of the family with a particular focus on the artist Cornelius Johnson. He was interested in one of our portraits, that of Sir Peter Temple. Mr Matthews was perplexed as to why, at some point over the years the painting had been described as 'oil on canvas'. This was highly unusual for the artist, Cornelius Johnson, who preferred to work on wood panel. The painting had been assumed to have been painted during 1622 yet Johnson was never documented to have worked on canvas as early as that. This obviously highlighted a few questions for Mr Matthews, the main one being: could it be a copy? Since acquiring the painting we had always assumed it to be an original work; however, Mr Matthews' new research put this assumption into question…

LUCKILY an inscription on the back of the frame shed some light on the matter: 'Messrs Leedham/Liner'. The Leedham family were specialists in restoring and relining pictures during the 19 century and they were particularly skilled in relining panel to canvas. Mr Matthews was more than happy with this explanation stating, 'An annoying loose end has been satisfactorily tied up.'

A huge thank you goes out to Mr Matthews for taking his time to research and provide us with invaluable information which will go a long way in helping us to establish a comprehensive history of the House and family.