The Petre Family pictures were a collection of portraits and other paintings housed at

Ingatestone Hall Ingatestone Hall is a Grade I listed 16th-century manor house in Essex, England. It is located outside the village of Ingatestone, approximately south west of Chelmsford and north east of London. The house was built by Sir William Petre, a ...

and

Thorndon Hall Thorndon Hall is a Georgian Palladian country house within Thorndon Park, Ingrave, Essex, England, approximately two miles south of Brentwood and from central London. Formerly the country seat of the Petre family who now reside at nearby In ...

. The pictures were initially displayed in the long gallery at Ingatestone Hall. By 1600 the displayed paintings included a portrait of William Petre which remains at Ingatestone Hall. At that time it was the only family portrait on display. By the end of the 18th century, the collection was housed at Thorndon Hall - the Petre's newly built Palladian mansion. The collection included two works by Stubbs showing members of the Petre family hunting. In 1878, Thorndon Hall was extensively damaged by a fire which destroyed 23 pictures. Lost works included the Petre's large collection of royal portraits and a possible full-length portrait of the Earl of Portland by van Dyck. Many works were damaged, requiring them to have significant repainting. Following the fire, the family (and its picture collection) occupied the East Wing, but later moved to Ingatestone Hall. Among the paintings in the collection at the time of the fire was a version of the family of Sir Thomas More after Holbein that is now owned by the Chelsea Society. The collection remains on display at Ingatestone Hall and includes a portrait of Sir

William Petre Sir William Petre (c. 1505 – 1572) (pronounced ''Peter'') was Secretary of State to three successive Tudor monarchs, namely Kings Henry VIII, Edward VI and Queen Mary I. He also deputised for the Secretary of State to Elizabeth I. Educated ...

and of 15 of his descendants who bore the title

Baron Petre Baron Petre (), of Writtle, in the County of Essex, is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1603 for Sir John Petre. His family has since been associated with the county of Essex. He represented Essex in parliament and served ...

. The exceptions are the 5th, 8th, and 15th Barons. In 1956,

Sir David Piper Sir David Towry Piper CBE FSA FRSL (21 July 1918 – 29 December 1990) was a British museum curator and author. He was director of the National Portrait Gallery 1964–1967, and of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1967–1973; and Fellow of ...

prepared a descriptive catalogue of the family portraits in the collection for the Essex Record Office.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petre Pictures English paintings Private art collections Paintings in the East of England Petre family