Portrait of James Hugessen (d. 1646) (attributed to Edward Bower), Edward Bower, 1636

Attributed to edward bower (totnes 1576 - 1667 london) portrait of james hugessen (d. 1646); charged with the hugessen coat-of-arms and dated upper left: 1636 a pair ot the portrait of jane adrian, mrs james hugessen oil on canvas; 116 x 93 cm. Provenance: by descent to william western hugessen (1736-64), provender, kent; to his daughter and co-heiress, mary western hugessen (d. 1784) and her husband sir edward knatchbull, 8th bt. (1758-1819). The hugessen family originally came from dunkirk in flanders. James hugessen bought two estates in kent: sewards in lynsted, and provender in norton. He was high sheriff of kent. The tomb commemorating him and his wife, jane, in the form of painted recumbent sculptures, along with the figures of their seven children, is in the church of st peter and st paul, lynsted. The inscription on the tomb identifies james hugessen as a ‘merchant adventurer’ – a career to which the seascape and ship visible in the background behind him here, evidently refer. Date: 1636.