William of Wykeham’s coat of arms is on the shield in the top-left corner and his motto ‘manner[s] makyth man’ is inscribed underneath. This is a copy of a portrait bequeathed to New College by George Ryves (Warden of New College, 1599-1613), along with a similar head of William Waynflete. The original has a rather longer inscription. It is clearly related to the Sampson Strong portrait of Wykeham, and Poole reasonably suggests that it may also be by him.

This is presumably ‘a head of the Founder’ in the 1734 inventory of the Warden’s Gallery.

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. 147

Provenance: Unknown, before 1734

Location: Fellows’ Library, Long Gallery