British School (16th/17th century). 'Portrait of Dean Alexander Nowell (c1507-1602)', by an unknown hand, oil on canvas, re-stretched and re-lined, 84.5cm x 71cm. (Dean of St Paul's for 42 years. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he became a Fellow in 1536. Shown with a fishing rod behind him and with fish hooks in his hand (he was a keen fisherman) and on a table, he was known as a piscator hominum, and according to Thomas Fuller’s History of the Worthies of Britain, he accidently invented bottled beer. Other copies of this image are held in Brasenose College, University of Oxford, and St Paul's Cathedral, an engraving after it was published in 1796). Provenance: Sold by the Nowell family. This portrait has been in the possession of the Nowell family since 1811 when it was given as a gift to Alexander Nowell by Robert Sherson for helping Sherson's son when he was in trouble. With a digital copy of the letter from Sherson to Nowell.