Walter Curle (1575-1647) was Bishop of Winchester during the Civil War. He fled the city when it was captured by Cromwell in 1645 (legend has it that he was carried out of Winchester Castle in a laundry basket). Curle went into exile in Soberton, where he died in 1647.

Before Winchester, Curle was Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1629 to 1632. This portrait is based on one at the Bishop’s Palace, Wells by an unknown artist. The inscriptions on this portrait are copied from the original at Wells.

Literature: John Ingamells, The English Episcopal Portrait 1559-1835: a Catalogue (London, 1981), p. 168 (no. A2)

Provenance: Unknown

Location: Warden’s Lodgings