Elizabeth Hext, Lady Stawell (d.1657)

Gilbert Jackson (fl.1622-1643). Oil painting on canvas, Elizabeth Hext, Lady Stawell (d.1657) by Gilbert Jackson (fl.1622-1643), signed and dated, lower left: Gilb:Jack: / Fect.1636. A three-quarter-length portrait of a Lady Stawell, born Elizabeth Hext, married Sir John Stawell after the death of her first husband, Sir Joseph Killigrew, in 1616, turned slighly to right, facing, wearing red dress with slashed sleeves and elaborate lace collar. She was the mother of Ralph, 1st Lord Stawell, whose youngest son, Edward, married Mary Stewkeley, the heiress of Hinton Ampner. The significance of the squirrel shown eating cob-nuts beside her is not clear, although were popular pets from the 15th century as seen in the portrait of ?Anne Lovell in the National Gallery by Holbein, but appears on the tomb of the Stawell family, dated 1379, found within the Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, Cothelstone, Somerset. Hinton Ampner, Hampshire (Accredited Museum)