Monday 22 February 2021
Front exterior of Ham House in 2016 with Coade stone statue of Father Thames, by John Bacon the elder, in the foreground
Courtesy of the National Trust
For nearly 350 years, a portrait of the 16th-century aristocrat Sir John Maitland of Thirlestane (1543-1595) hung in a dark corner in the Long Gallery at Ham House. To the astonishment of art historians, this innocuous portrait of a somewhat forgotten figure Maitland, who was the Lord Chancellor of Scotland under King James VI was concealing a centuries-lost portrait of Mary Stuart, colloquially known as Mary, Queen of Scots (1542 – 1587).
Portrait of John Maitland from Ham House being prepared for work at the conservation studio in Kent