Portraitist Adam de Colone is thought to have been born in Scotland and was probably the son of Adrian van Son, a painter of Flemish origin, and his wife, Susanna ‘Declony’. The name ‘de Colone’ may be a version of his mother’s maiden name, used by Adam after the death of his father some time before 1610. Having trained in the Netherlands, he was employed at the court in London in 1623, when he began work on two full-length portraits of James I. As many of his clients were Scots who frequently travelled to London, it is not clear whether de Colone continued to live in London or returned to Scotland. From 1628 he is thought to have travelled on the Continent and there is no indication that he ever returned to the UK.
