
Isaac Oliver
Portrait of Thomas Fones (d. 1638), wearing black embroidered doublet and wide lace-edged standing collar, c. 1605
Watercolour and bodycolour on vellum
Oval, 2 in. (51 mm) high
Philip Mould & Co.
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Further images
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The miniaturist Isaac Oliver was younger than Nicholas Hilliard by fifteen to twenty years. Oliver is well known as Hilliard’s ‘rare disciple’ – although he was certainly operating from the workshop of the older artist, their relationship was more complex than that of master and apprentice.[1] Both men were sons of goldsmiths and would have received some training within their families, but, much like Hilliard himself a decade earlier, Oliver emerges as a fully fledged artist in the late 1580s.[2]
Oliver’s early patronage revolved around the affluent members of the ‘citizen class’ and this previously unrecorded portrait depicts such a person in Thomas Fones (also spelt Fownes), a wealthy Devon merchant and Mayor of Plymouth. Few written records corroborate Oliver’s patrons and extant portraits, so the discovery of this miniature which had remained with the family until the twenty-first century is an important addition of a confirmed identity. Thomas Fones was born in Bridgewater in Somerset to parents Richard Fones of Bristol and Joane (neé Tindall) from the Isle of Axholme. It seems likely that he was related to Humphrey Fownes, Mayor of Plymouth in 1588 and 1596, and also John Fones of Bromsgrove in Worcestershire who earlier in 1540 acquired Dodford Priory from Andrew Dudley following the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Due to its natural harbour and ease of access to the Atlantic Ocean, Plymouth became a highly prosperous town in the late sixteenth century where vast fortunes were made and lost. One of the most familiar names associated with this booming period of economic growth in Plymouth was Sir John Hawkins (1532–1595), merchant, slave trader and architect of the Elizabethan navy. It would have been within these social circles that Fones operated, forging alliances and making deals. He is here depicted as a wealthy gentleman, wearing his hair in a daring ‘lovelock’ over his left shoulder – see a similar hairstyle worn by the sitter in.[3] Fones is over a decade late in adopting this fashion, once considered so radical. It is possible that it is worn in homage to the man who introduced the fad at court, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. Southampton was interested in exploration and a patron of colonial ventures, many of which set sail from Plymouth. Around the time this portrait was painted, Southampton had formed the Virginia Company (1606) and funded two expeditions for settlers from England to Virginia.[4] It is quite likely, therefore, that the two men knew each other and that Fones was consciously aping Southampton in his portrait.
In 1610 and again in 1619 Fones was elected Mayor of Plymouth. During his terms as mayor, Fones oversaw the erection of a new clock at the Guild Hall and also saw the departure of a fleet of ships to Algiers,[5] probably with the aim of rescuing English captives. The following year, on 6 September, 1620, Fones would also have witnessed the departure of the Pilgrim Fathers aboard the Mayflower, in search of a better life in the New World.
By the 1620s Fones had amassed a considerable fortune and as a charitable gift to Plymouth paid for the construction of a hospital and almshouse on Great Hill (now North Hill), which remained standing until 1810 when it was demolished to widen the road. He became an extensive land-owner – as well as houses and outbuildings around the harbour in the centre of Plymouth, Fones also owned a manor in Lipson, farms in nearby Whitley, a manor in Honiknowle, a house in Tavistock, property in Ilsington and Highweek near Newton Abbot and parcels of land near the Lady Well in Pilton, Barnstable. When Fones died on 24 April 1638 his land and property were divided amongst his 4th and 6th eldest sons, John Fownes (1614–1646) and Thomas Fownes (1619-after 1638), the others having predeceased him. He was buried at St Andrew’s Church in Plymouth.
Sir John Pope-Hennessy, in his influential lecture on the subject, asserted that early miniatures were so tightly bound in service to the serving monarch that within Elizabeth’s reign ‘style, like time, stood still’.[6] The present miniature was painted during the earliest years of the reign of James I, and it is clear, when compared to the miniatures by Hilliard, that change was afoot. Elizabeth Goldring neatly sums this evolution in style up as ‘more outward-looking and more receptive to the latest Continental trends’. The mayoral sitter here is painted using softer modelling than Hilliard employed, the tonal subtleties building up to create a truly individual face.
[1] Muller, J. M. and Murrell, J.M. (1997) Edward Norgate: Miniatura or the Arte of Limning. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 68.
[2] For a fuller discussion of this see: Button, V., Coombs, K. and Derbyshire, A. (2019) ‘Limning, the Perfection of Painting: The Art of Painting Portrait Miniatures’, in MacLeod, C. (ed.), Elizabethan Treasures: Miniatures by Hilliard and Oliver. London: National Portrait Gallery, pp. 26-28.
[3] The ‘lovelock’ was a striking look favoured by one of the most fashionable and bold young men at the Elizabethan court, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton (1573–1624), who wore his hair in a long section over his shoulder.
[4] In 1606, the Virginia Company of London received a charter from the newly-crowned King James I. This was a joint-stock company, which sold shares; all who purchased shares at a cost of £12 10s shared in the success or failure of the venture. The Virginia Company was formed both to bring profit to its shareholders and to establish an English colony in the New World. In December 1606, the Virginia Company’s three ships, containing 144 men and boys, set sail. On May 13, 1607, these first settlers selected the site of Jamestown Island as the place to build their fort.
[5] Baron, R.W.S. (1846) Mayors and Mayoralties: or, The Annals of the Borough [Plymouth]. Plymouth: Amelia Arliss, p.35.
[6] Pope Hennessy, J. (1949) A lecture on Nicholas Hilliard. London: Home and Van Thal Ltd., p.29.
The miniaturist Isaac Oliver was younger than Nicholas Hilliard by fifteen to twenty years. Oliver is well known as Hilliard’s ‘rare disciple’ – although he was certainly operating from the workshop of the older artist, their relationship was more complex than that of master and apprentice.[1] Both men were sons of goldsmiths and would have received some training within their families, but, much like Hilliard himself a decade earlier, Oliver emerges as a fully fledged artist in the late 1580s.[2]
Oliver’s early patronage revolved around the affluent members of the ‘citizen class’ and this previously unrecorded portrait depicts such a person in Thomas Fones (also spelt Fownes), a wealthy Devon merchant and Mayor of Plymouth. Few written records corroborate Oliver’s patrons and extant portraits, so the discovery of this miniature which had remained with the family until the twenty-first century is an important addition of a confirmed identity. Thomas Fones was born in Bridgewater in Somerset to parents Richard Fones of Bristol and Joane (neé Tindall) from the Isle of Axholme. It seems likely that he was related to Humphrey Fownes, Mayor of Plymouth in 1588 and 1596, and also John Fones of Bromsgrove in Worcestershire who earlier in 1540 acquired Dodford Priory from Andrew Dudley following the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Due to its natural harbour and ease of access to the Atlantic Ocean, Plymouth became a highly prosperous town in the late sixteenth century where vast fortunes were made and lost. One of the most familiar names associated with this booming period of economic growth in Plymouth was Sir John Hawkins (1532–1595), merchant, slave trader and architect of the Elizabethan navy. It would have been within these social circles that Fones operated, forging alliances and making deals. He is here depicted as a wealthy gentleman, wearing his hair in a daring ‘lovelock’ over his left shoulder – see a similar hairstyle worn by the sitter in.[3] Fones is over a decade late in adopting this fashion, once considered so radical. It is possible that it is worn in homage to the man who introduced the fad at court, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. Southampton was interested in exploration and a patron of colonial ventures, many of which set sail from Plymouth. Around the time this portrait was painted, Southampton had formed the Virginia Company (1606) and funded two expeditions for settlers from England to Virginia.[4] It is quite likely, therefore, that the two men knew each other and that Fones was consciously aping Southampton in his portrait.
In 1610 and again in 1619 Fones was elected Mayor of Plymouth. During his terms as mayor, Fones oversaw the erection of a new clock at the Guild Hall and also saw the departure of a fleet of ships to Algiers,[5] probably with the aim of rescuing English captives. The following year, on 6 September, 1620, Fones would also have witnessed the departure of the Pilgrim Fathers aboard the Mayflower, in search of a better life in the New World.
By the 1620s Fones had amassed a considerable fortune and as a charitable gift to Plymouth paid for the construction of a hospital and almshouse on Great Hill (now North Hill), which remained standing until 1810 when it was demolished to widen the road. He became an extensive land-owner – as well as houses and outbuildings around the harbour in the centre of Plymouth, Fones also owned a manor in Lipson, farms in nearby Whitley, a manor in Honiknowle, a house in Tavistock, property in Ilsington and Highweek near Newton Abbot and parcels of land near the Lady Well in Pilton, Barnstable. When Fones died on 24 April 1638 his land and property were divided amongst his 4th and 6th eldest sons, John Fownes (1614–1646) and Thomas Fownes (1619-after 1638), the others having predeceased him. He was buried at St Andrew’s Church in Plymouth.
Sir John Pope-Hennessy, in his influential lecture on the subject, asserted that early miniatures were so tightly bound in service to the serving monarch that within Elizabeth’s reign ‘style, like time, stood still’.[6] The present miniature was painted during the earliest years of the reign of James I, and it is clear, when compared to the miniatures by Hilliard, that change was afoot. Elizabeth Goldring neatly sums this evolution in style up as ‘more outward-looking and more receptive to the latest Continental trends’. The mayoral sitter here is painted using softer modelling than Hilliard employed, the tonal subtleties building up to create a truly individual face.
[1] Muller, J. M. and Murrell, J.M. (1997) Edward Norgate: Miniatura or the Arte of Limning. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 68.
[2] For a fuller discussion of this see: Button, V., Coombs, K. and Derbyshire, A. (2019) ‘Limning, the Perfection of Painting: The Art of Painting Portrait Miniatures’, in MacLeod, C. (ed.), Elizabethan Treasures: Miniatures by Hilliard and Oliver. London: National Portrait Gallery, pp. 26-28.
[3] The ‘lovelock’ was a striking look favoured by one of the most fashionable and bold young men at the Elizabethan court, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton (1573–1624), who wore his hair in a long section over his shoulder.
[4] In 1606, the Virginia Company of London received a charter from the newly-crowned King James I. This was a joint-stock company, which sold shares; all who purchased shares at a cost of £12 10s shared in the success or failure of the venture. The Virginia Company was formed both to bring profit to its shareholders and to establish an English colony in the New World. In December 1606, the Virginia Company’s three ships, containing 144 men and boys, set sail. On May 13, 1607, these first settlers selected the site of Jamestown Island as the place to build their fort.
[5] Baron, R.W.S. (1846) Mayors and Mayoralties: or, The Annals of the Borough [Plymouth]. Plymouth: Amelia Arliss, p.35.
[6] Pope Hennessy, J. (1949) A lecture on Nicholas Hilliard. London: Home and Van Thal Ltd., p.29.
Provenance
By direct descent from the sitter to the Reverend Thomas Fownes (d.1808);By descent to his third son John Yarde Fownes (1772-1839);
By descent to Edward Curtis Fownes (1806-1892), who married Mary Margaret Haythorne in 1848;
By descent to Mrs Winifred S Parsons (neé Haythorne);
By descent to her son Sir Richard Edmund Clement Fownes Parsons (1928-2016);
Sold by the estate of the above in 2018.
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