Thomas Bate (fl.c.1692)
This portrait is the only known signed work by Thomas Bate, who was said to have been famous for his painting on glass and to have lived mostly in Ireland. Though little is known of him, he obviously relished working on a small scale; note the very fine detail in the clump of flowers in the foreground and on the fringed edge of Coningsby's robe.
The sitter in this work, Thomas, Lord Coningsby, an ardent supporter of William III, was Paymaster-General of the Williamite forces in Ireland in 1690 and between 1690 and 1692, served as one of the three Lords Justices of Ireland. In the portrait, he wears a colourful version of Roman dress and is shown seated before his residence, Hampton Court, Herefordshire, in which he took a great interest (he remodelled it as a mediaeval castellated mansion from c. 1706).
Image: Thomas Bate (fl.c.1692), Thomas, Lord Coningsby (1656-1729), Seated in a Romanticised Landscape, with a View of the North Prospect of Hampton Court, Herefordshire, in the Background (U1883). Painted 1692. Purchased with the aid of a grant from the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland, 1973