But a discovery during a visit by the Public Catalogue Foundation, filmed for an episode of the Culture Show on BBC2, has shown the sophisticated oil on canvas is actually a work by master 17th century court painter Anthony van Dyck, full of the intricate drapery, colouring and expressionism which characterised the Flemish Baroque artist’s works.
Portrait of Olive Boteler Porter – the Queen’s lady in waiting, and the wife of Van Dyck’s friend and patron, Endymion Porter – intrigued Dr Bendor Grosvenor during his research for an online exhibition as part of the BBC’s vault-searching Your Paintings project.
It was recorded as a piece from the School of Van Dyck, but is one of a number of portraits Van Dyck made of different members of the Villiers family, who were related to the Duke of Buckingham. A telltale red carnation in Olive’s hair is likely to be an heraldic motif of
Article source: http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/painting%20%26%20drawing/portraits/art423676