John Hoskins the Elder
A Gentleman, probably Arthur Capel (or Capell), 1st Earl of Essex (1632-1683), wearing brown silk doublet shot with gold thread, lawn collar with tassels, his dark auburn hair worn long; landscape background, 1653
Watercolour on vellum
Oval, 2 3/8 in. (60 mm) high
Signed with initials and dated 1653; ‘1653/IH’; the backing paper with inscription ‘Percy’
Philip Mould & Co.
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This portrait miniature appeared at auction in 2008 with the sitter described as ‘A young Gentleman, called Henry Percy, 1st Duke of Alnwick’. This sitter could not be traced, which is unsurprising since a ‘Dukedom of Alnwick’ has never existed. It is more likely, based on the sitter’s features, and the date of the miniature, that the sitter is Arthur Capel, 1st Earl of Essex.
Contemporary portraits of Capel show a man with a distinctive face, with a long nose, large eyes and idiosyncratic black eyebrows a slight mismatch for his dark auburn hair. Particularly close to the current portrait miniature is a drawing by Lely, part of a triptych, which is now in the collection at Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich.
Capel married Lady Elizabeth in May 1653, the date of this miniature, aged 21, at Petworth (he was then styled Arthur Capell, 2nd Baron Capell of Hadham). The inscription ‘Percy’ on the reverse of the portrait could refer to the likely recipient of the portrait in 1653, the sitter’s new wife. Hoskins also painted Capel’s younger brother, Henry Capel, Baron Capel of Tewkesbury (1638-1696), who established the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, a few years after the current portrait.[1] Now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, this portrait shows an extremely close family resemblance and Hoskins has portrayed both sitters in an almost identical composition and in matching clothing (NPG 5703). Alongside John Hoskins, the Capel family were notable patrons of the miniaturist Richard ‘dwarf’ Gibson and Sir Peter Lely.
Arthur Capel was one of the ablest statesmen in the reign of Charles II. This portrait shows the young Arthur a few years after his royalist father was executed in the same year as Charles I (1649) and before the Restoration of the Monarchy that was also to restore the family’s fortune. After 1660 Arthur was quickly created Earl of Essex and rose to become Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He moved to his father’s Tudor Mansion at Cassiobury (Watford) and set about restoring it to the highest standard (clearly hoping for a visit from the king, which never came). In 1679 he became First Lord of the Treasury. Fearing the prospect of a Catholic monarch, he became involved with attempts to exclude the king’s brother James, Duke of York, from the throne and, more treacherously, with the schemes of the Duke of Monmouth. Betrayed and imprisoned in the Tower, he was found with his throat cut. His death was recorded as suicide but has been the subject of scrutiny ever since. Charles II seems to have shown genuine remorse at Capel’s death, stating ‘for I owe him a life’, referring to the execution of their respective fathers in 1649.
[1] The family interest in botany extended to Arthur’s sisters – Elizabeth (Lady Carnarvon), a talented flower painter – and Mary (Duchess of Beaufort) developed the gardens at Badminton and Beaufort House.
This portrait miniature appeared at auction in 2008 with the sitter described as ‘A young Gentleman, called Henry Percy, 1st Duke of Alnwick’. This sitter could not be traced, which is unsurprising since a ‘Dukedom of Alnwick’ has never existed. It is more likely, based on the sitter’s features, and the date of the miniature, that the sitter is Arthur Capel, 1st Earl of Essex.
Contemporary portraits of Capel show a man with a distinctive face, with a long nose, large eyes and idiosyncratic black eyebrows a slight mismatch for his dark auburn hair. Particularly close to the current portrait miniature is a drawing by Lely, part of a triptych, which is now in the collection at Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich.
Capel married Lady Elizabeth in May 1653, the date of this miniature, aged 21, at Petworth (he was then styled Arthur Capell, 2nd Baron Capell of Hadham). The inscription ‘Percy’ on the reverse of the portrait could refer to the likely recipient of the portrait in 1653, the sitter’s new wife. Hoskins also painted Capel’s younger brother, Henry Capel, Baron Capel of Tewkesbury (1638-1696), who established the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, a few years after the current portrait.[1] Now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, this portrait shows an extremely close family resemblance and Hoskins has portrayed both sitters in an almost identical composition and in matching clothing (NPG 5703). Alongside John Hoskins, the Capel family were notable patrons of the miniaturist Richard ‘dwarf’ Gibson and Sir Peter Lely.
Arthur Capel was one of the ablest statesmen in the reign of Charles II. This portrait shows the young Arthur a few years after his royalist father was executed in the same year as Charles I (1649) and before the Restoration of the Monarchy that was also to restore the family’s fortune. After 1660 Arthur was quickly created Earl of Essex and rose to become Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He moved to his father’s Tudor Mansion at Cassiobury (Watford) and set about restoring it to the highest standard (clearly hoping for a visit from the king, which never came). In 1679 he became First Lord of the Treasury. Fearing the prospect of a Catholic monarch, he became involved with attempts to exclude the king’s brother James, Duke of York, from the throne and, more treacherously, with the schemes of the Duke of Monmouth. Betrayed and imprisoned in the Tower, he was found with his throat cut. His death was recorded as suicide but has been the subject of scrutiny ever since. Charles II seems to have shown genuine remorse at Capel’s death, stating ‘for I owe him a life’, referring to the execution of their respective fathers in 1649.
[1] The family interest in botany extended to Arthur’s sisters – Elizabeth (Lady Carnarvon), a talented flower painter – and Mary (Duchess of Beaufort) developed the gardens at Badminton and Beaufort House.
This portrait miniature appeared at auction in 2008 with the sitter described as ‘A young Gentleman, called Henry Percy, 1st Duke of Alnwick’. This sitter could not be traced, largely since a ‘Dukedom of Alnwick’ has never existed. It is more likely, based on the sitter’s features, and the date of the miniature, that the sitter is Arthur Capel, 1st Earl of Essex.
Provenance
With Ellison Fine Art, 2001;Bonhams, London, Fine Portrait Miniatures, 21 May 2008, lot 12