Nicholas Hilliard
An unknown gentleman, wearing black doublet and white lace collar, against a red curtain background, c. 1595
Watercolour and bodycolour on vellum
Oval, 1 ¾ in. (44 mm) high
Philip Mould & Co.
Further images
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The hairstyling of the sitter, his clothing and the red background against which he is placed date this portrait to the mid–1590s.
This exhibition showcases two very different miniatures by Hilliard from this period, which highlight his continued artistic experimentation, even as he reached middle age. Hilliard was challenged to innovate by the success of his former pupil, Isaac Oliver, who had become his leading competitor. Oliver’s rich, Italianate chiaroscuro, which contrasted with Hilliard’s stated preference for clean line and little shadow, challenged the older artist to introduce a greater degree of naturalism to his work. This he did by developing a new format, the full-length ‘cabinet miniature’, which responded to visual stimuli to which he would have been exposed during his time in France, and by experimenting with the backgrounds against which his sitters were placed.
Previously, Hilliard had shown his sitters almost exclusively against a background of vivid blue, often made of the mineral pigment azurite. In the 1590s, however, he began to vary this formula, making use of a red background painted to simulate velvet, as seen here, with increasing frequency.
Hilliard first used this device around 1590.[1] Initially, the red background was painted ‘wet in wet’ to suggest a quilted fabric. But as he grew more confident in the technique, he developed it to show the curtain hanging in long, vertical folds. To achieve this effect, Hilliard used a difficult and sophisticated method. First, a layer of red would be painted; then, when it was still wet, the folds of the fabric would be created by carefully dragging a dry brush down the paint layer in long, vertical strokes.
Later, this would be seen prominently in Hilliard’s portraits of the new king, James I of England and VI of Scotland. But in the 1590s, this background can be seen in some portraits by Hilliard of the circle of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1565–1601). Following the death of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (1532/3– 1588), Essex – who was both Leicester’s stepson and his godson – had become Queen Elizabeth’s new favourite. In keeping with this status, he first employed Leicester’s primary image-maker, Hilliard, to form his iconography ‘in little’, before turning to Oliver as he looked to acquire a more independent status at court.[2] Several of his associates were painted by Hilliard and two surviving works – portraits of Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton (1573–1624), and Sir Henry Slingsby (1560–1634) – show the sitters against red backgrounds and also wearing black doublets with white collars.
It could be that the sitter of the present work was from this circle. He wears his hair long on one side of his head, a fashion, known as a lovelock, that can also be seen in portraits of the Earl of Southampton.[3] The faint moustache on his upper lip suggests that he was a young man when the portrait was painted, with a self-conscious aura of melancholy which was seen as a necessary requirement for creative thought. Sir Roy Strong elegantly termed this ‘the Elizabethan malady’ or ‘An Italianate vogue for melancholic affectation’.[4] Elements of dress, moreover, suggest that he was a figure who worked at the upper echelons of the court. The colours he has chosen to wear, black and white, were frequently adopted by courtiers in homage to Elizabeth – who favoured this colour scheme – as they signified chastity and constancy (Fig.1).
[1] Goldring, E. (2019) Nicholas Hilliard: Life of an Artist. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 233, 236.
[2] Ibid., pp. 235-7.
[3] This pretension can be seen in portraits of Southampton by both Isaac Oliver and Nicholas Hilliard. See illustrated in MacLeod, C. (2019) Elizabethan Treasures, Miniatures by Hilliard and Oliver. London: National Portrait Gallery, pp. 146–147.
[4] Strong, R. (1964) ‘The Elizabethan Malady: Melancholy in Elizabethan and Jacobean Portraiture’, Apollo, LXXIX, pp. 264-69, pp. 2, 66. (reprinted in Strong, R. (1995) The Tudor and Stuart Monarchy: Pageantry, Painting, Iconography. Vol II. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, pp. 295-302, 298.)
The hairstyling of the sitter, his clothing and the red background against which he is placed date this portrait to the mid–1590s.
This exhibition showcases two very different miniatures by Hilliard from this period, which highlight his continued artistic experimentation, even as he reached middle age. Hilliard was challenged to innovate by the success of his former pupil, Isaac Oliver, who had become his leading competitor. Oliver’s rich, Italianate chiaroscuro, which contrasted with Hilliard’s stated preference for clean line and little shadow, challenged the older artist to introduce a greater degree of naturalism to his work. This he did by developing a new format, the full-length ‘cabinet miniature’, which responded to visual stimuli to which he would have been exposed during his time in France, and by experimenting with the backgrounds against which his sitters were placed.
Previously, Hilliard had shown his sitters almost exclusively against a background of vivid blue, often made of the mineral pigment azurite. In the 1590s, however, he began to vary this formula, making use of a red background painted to simulate velvet, as seen here, with increasing frequency.
Hilliard first used this device around 1590.[1] Initially, the red background was painted ‘wet in wet’ to suggest a quilted fabric. But as he grew more confident in the technique, he developed it to show the curtain hanging in long, vertical folds. To achieve this effect, Hilliard used a difficult and sophisticated method. First, a layer of red would be painted; then, when it was still wet, the folds of the fabric would be created by carefully dragging a dry brush down the paint layer in long, vertical strokes.
Later, this would be seen prominently in Hilliard’s portraits of the new king, James I of England and VI of Scotland. But in the 1590s, this background can be seen in some portraits by Hilliard of the circle of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1565–1601). Following the death of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (1532/3– 1588), Essex – who was both Leicester’s stepson and his godson – had become Queen Elizabeth’s new favourite. In keeping with this status, he first employed Leicester’s primary image-maker, Hilliard, to form his iconography ‘in little’, before turning to Oliver as he looked to acquire a more independent status at court.[2] Several of his associates were painted by Hilliard and two surviving works – portraits of Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton (1573–1624), and Sir Henry Slingsby (1560–1634) – show the sitters against red backgrounds and also wearing black doublets with white collars.
It could be that the sitter of the present work was from this circle. He wears his hair long on one side of his head, a fashion, known as a lovelock, that can also be seen in portraits of the Earl of Southampton.[3] The faint moustache on his upper lip suggests that he was a young man when the portrait was painted, with a self-conscious aura of melancholy which was seen as a necessary requirement for creative thought. Sir Roy Strong elegantly termed this ‘the Elizabethan malady’ or ‘An Italianate vogue for melancholic affectation’.[4] Elements of dress, moreover, suggest that he was a figure who worked at the upper echelons of the court. The colours he has chosen to wear, black and white, were frequently adopted by courtiers in homage to Elizabeth – who favoured this colour scheme – as they signified chastity and constancy (Fig.1).
[1] Goldring, E. (2019) Nicholas Hilliard: Life of an Artist. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 233, 236.
[2] Ibid., pp. 235-7.
[3] This pretension can be seen in portraits of Southampton by both Isaac Oliver and Nicholas Hilliard. See illustrated in MacLeod, C. (2019) Elizabethan Treasures, Miniatures by Hilliard and Oliver. London: National Portrait Gallery, pp. 146–147.
[4] Strong, R. (1964) ‘The Elizabethan Malady: Melancholy in Elizabethan and Jacobean Portraiture’, Apollo, LXXIX, pp. 264-69, pp. 2, 66. (reprinted in Strong, R. (1995) The Tudor and Stuart Monarchy: Pageantry, Painting, Iconography. Vol II. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, pp. 295-302, 298.)
This hairstyling of the sitter, his clothing and the red background against which he is placed date this portrait to the 1590s.
Provenance
Christie’s, London, 28 November 2006, lot 93;Christie’s, London, 17 October 1995, lot 19;
‘Property of a gentleman’, Sotheby’s, London, 1 May 1958, lot 60.
