BONHAMS OLD MASTER SALE HAUNTED BY GHOSTLY TALE OF BOY BELIEVED TO BE A MURDERER IN LEAGUE WITH THE DEVIL LEICESTER AND KENT CONNECTIONS FOR DARK STORY
A portrait of David Papillon (1691-1762), standing full-length, holding a bow and quiver, a spaniel at his side, painted by John Baptist Closterman (1660-1713) brings a certain ghoulishness to Bonhams sale of Old Master paintings on December 9 in New Bond St.
The oil painting on canvas is mounted in a carved giltwood frame and is estimated to sell for £8,000-12,000. It has come to Bonhams from the sitter’s family by descent at Acrise Place, Folkestone, Kent.
David Papillon was the grandson of the French Huguenot and military engineer, David Papillon, who built Papillon Hall, Leicestershire, between 1622 and 1624. Known locally as 'Pamp' or 'Old Pamp', the younger David Papillon was believed to have been in league with the Devil. It was said that he kept a Spanish mistress at the Hall, whom he later murdered, and was purported to have had psychic powers.
Acrise Place, near Folkestone in Kent, came into the possession of the Papillon family in 1666 when it was purchased by Thomas Papillon.
Lisa Greaves, a specialist in Bonhams Old Master Department says: “It is all the stuff of local legend but the story’s quite fun. The boy depicted in the portrait was the owner of Papillon Hall in Market Harborough. Before he married in 1717, it is said that he kept a mistress at the hall. He apparently never let her leave the house and she was often seen walking on the roof. The lady, who was reportedly Spanish, died in mysterious circumstances and David Papillon is said to have murdered her although there’s no record of a body ever being found.”
A skeleton of a woman was found walled up in the east attic years later, in 1903, when alterations were being done on the house. It is said that she put a curse on a pair of her favourite shoes and that bad luck would befall the owner of the house, if they were ever removed from Papillon hall.
David Papillon of the portrait was also known by the locals as ‘Pamp’ and was deeply feared as it was said he had strange hypnotic powers with an ability to ‘fix’ people – a kind of temporary paralysis caused by a single glance.
