Portrait of Bridget Osborne (née Bertie) (1629-1703/4), Duchess of Leeds, half-length, wearing a gold coloured silk gown and crimson cloak, seated in a landscape. Inscribed on old lining 'Her Grace the Duchess of Leeds Born: 1629. obyt. Jan 14th b. 1703/4? : Atatis Don by Hales: '. Circa 1660.

Oil on canvas in a period carved giltwood 'Lely' frame

Bridget was the daughter of Montague Bertie, second Earl of Lindsey. In 1653 she married Thomas Osborne of Kiveton, Yorkshire, (1632-1712), the first Duke of Leeds, politician and best known under his earlier titles of Earl of Danby and Marquess of Carmarthen. Together they had three sons and eight daughters including Edward (d.1689), the eldest son, Charles (d.1711) and Peregrine (d. 1729).

John Hayls (or Hales) (1600-1679) worked extensively for the Bertie family and is also known to have painted Bridget's brother the Hon. Charles Bertie in the early 1660's (ex-Uffington House, Lincolnshire, sold at Sotheby's in 2009), her half sister Mary Bertie (sold at Sotheby's March 21st 2001, lot 35) and half brother Henry Bertie. Hayls was active in England as a portraitist from the 1640's until at least the late 1660's and was a cousin of the miniaturist Samuel Cooper. His most famous portrait is of Samuel Pepys (1666, National Portrait Gallery, London). From 1666-1668 Pepys's diary contains many references to Hayls, whom he also commissioned to paint his wife and father. In 1729 three portraits at Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, were inventoried as being by 'Hales', two of which, 'Colonel John Russell' (c. 1645) and 'Ladies Diana and Anne Russell' (c. 1658) remain there.