Arthur Lake (1569-1626) was born in Southampton. He was a Scholar of Winchester College, 1581-89; Fellow of New College, Oxford, 1589-1600; Fellow of Winchester, 1600-1613; Warden of New College, 1613-1617; Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1616-24.

This portrait is listed in the 1734 inventory of the Warden’s Gallery. It is based on a painting commissioned by New College, Oxford from Richard Greenbury in 1626. There are a number of differences between the two pictures and this version is slightly smaller.

Literature: R.E. Poole, Catalogue of Portraits in the Possession of the University, Colleges, City and County of Oxford, 3 vols (Oxford, 1935), ii, p. 153; John Ingamells, The English Episcopal Portrait 1559-1835: a Catalogue (London, 1981), p. 260 (no. B2), pl. 163; K. Fincham, ‘Lake, Arthur (bap. 1567, d. 1626), bishop of Bath and Wells’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004); P. Quarrie, Winchester College and the King James Bible (Winchester, 2011), p. 24

Provenance: Unknown, before 1734

Location: College Hall