Sir William Drury, of Hawstead, Suffolk
Daniël van den Queborne
1587
Sir William Drury was one of a number of courtiers who left England during the reign of Elizabeth I to support the Dutch Protestants in their war against Catholic Spain. Escaping the enormous debts he had run up through mismanaging his office in the Exchequer may have been an additional incentive to leave England. This striking portrait appears to have been painted in the Netherlands in response to the recent death of Sir Phillip Sidney, the soldier, poet, and doyen of the Elizabethan court, who had died the previous year fighting at the siege of Zutphen. The Italian inscription sconsolato (“I am disconsolate”) points to Drury's mourning. Drury’s own death was not as heroic; he died from his wounds after a duel with a fellow Englishman, Sir John Borough. Gangrene spread from his hand (which was amputated), to his arm (also amputated), and then to the rest of his body.
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven · Image: Yale Center for British Art, Public domain · Text: Yale Center for British Art, CC0