As well as Winchester College, William of Wykeham (1324-1404) founded New College, Oxford. He is depicted here with vignettes of both colleges (Winchester is on the right).

This is a copy of the portrait of Wykeham commissioned by Winchester College in 1597 (Ao88), itself a variant of an original picture by Sampson Strong, commissioned by New College in 1596.

This picture may well be the portrait of Wykeham recorded as having been given to the College by Warden Nicholas in 1707, and was perhaps commissioned by him. Nicholas was the patron of Barfoot’s birds-eye view of the College (Ao13) and probably also the view of School (Ao90). The fine late 17^th century frame of this painting is consistent with the period of Nicholas’s wardenship, and it is close in style to the carved mouldings of the panelling he commissioned for School and Senior Poser.

A 1734 inventory of College pictures records a portrait of Wykeham hanging in Election Chamber, as well as one in Hall (Ao88) and a ‘head of the Founder’ in the Warden’s Lodgings (Ao33). The picture in Election Chamber is presumably either the present painting or Ao87.

Provenance: Unknown, perhaps given to Winchester College by Warden Nicholas in 1707

Location: Fellows’ Library, Long Gallery