RKD STUDIES

Portrait painters were constantly in great demand in England. For the first 70 years of the 16th century portraits had been commissioned mainly from foreign, i.e. Flemish and Dutch, artists. Local artists were mentioned for the first time in the Elizabethan era (1558-1603). The Queen even preferred ‘British-born artists’ such as Nicholas Hilliard (c. 1547-1619) and George Gower (c. 1538-1596).¹ Indeed, her portrait could only be painted by certain artists – the very best, of course – and the resulting image would then serve as a model to be copied by other artists working in two or three large picture factories.² Hence there was precious little scope for the ‘artists’ to take a subjective approach in the portraits they produced. The conquests and persecutions initiated by the Duke of Alba forced many members of the Reformed Church to flee to England, including artists and craftsmen from Antwerp and other places in Flanders.³ Marcus Gheeraerts II (1561/2-1636) from Bruges was one of the best among them and he felt very much at home in England.⁴ His portraits have a certain significance for us, since they show that he gradually adopted the painting style of Dutch portraitists who worked in England during the reign of Charles I (ruled 1625-1649).⁵ The pre-eminent Dutch painter under Elizabeth I (1558-1603) was Cornelis Ketel (1548-1616), who was active in London from 1573 until about 1581. He is undoubtedly identical with the painter named Cornelius who is mentioned in Wits Commonwealth.⁶ Ketel’s major works include the 1577 portrait of Martin Frobisher (Bodleian Library, Oxford) [1] and the portrait that he made in 1579 of William Gresham (Granville Leveson-Gower collection, Titsey Park) [2]. Regrettably, his portrait of Queen Elizabeth has not survived. His concept of portraiture is recognisable in many English pictures dating to around 1600 (portrait of Michael Drayton, National Portrait Gallery, London, 776; portrait of Phineas Pett, ibidem no. 2035; of John DeCritz I ?) [3-4].⁷ Together with a series of other lesser-known native artists, Cornelis Ketel, Marcus Gheeraerts II and Federico Zuccaro (1539/43-1609)⁸ represent the late Mannerist type of portrait in England, which replaced the style favoured by Anthonis Mor (1516/21-1576/7).

1
Cornelis Ketel
Portrait of Martin Frobisher (1535?-1594), dated 1577
Oxford (England), Bodleian Library (University of Oxford), inv./cat.nr. LP 50

A specifically English style was most readily apparent in the field of portrait miniatures, in which Isaac Oliver (c. 1565-1617) and Nicholas Hilliard attained a considerable mastery. In his figurative drawings, on the other hand, Oliver was an out-and-out Mannerist and barely distinguishable from Dutch artists such as Joachim Wtewael and Maerten de Vos [5-6].⁹ The Flemish element was more noticeable in his work than the Dutch. A brief mention must be made here of John White (c. 1540-after 1593). Although not a miniaturist as such, he nonetheless incorporates various aspects of the work of such artists. Very well-known are his watercolours of indigenous people whom he saw in Virginia [7-10]. One is tempted to think that his vibrant images were influenced by Dutch models. However, it would be hard to find such early examples of Dutch watercolours. Evidently the artist’s own observation of nature rendered superfluous any imitation of the Dutch artists’ realistic depiction of people and landscapes.¹⁰

4
Anonymous England c. 1612
Portrait of Phineas Pett (1570-1647), c. 1612
London (England), National Portrait Gallery, inv./cat.nr. 2035

In connection with these English miniaturists, reference can be made to two Dutchmen who broadly followed their example. In 1594, Jacques de Gheyn II (1565-1629) engraved the portrait of George Clifford, Duke of Cumberland [11],¹¹ thereby documenting his familiarity with English miniature painting. He need not necessarily have been in England at this time, but there are more detailed reports of a later sojourn in the company of Constantijn Huygens I (1596-1687) and Jacques de Gheyn III (1596-1641). Huygens, who knew the miniaturist Isaac Oliver and owned a number of his works, was joined by de Gheyn on a visit to Prince Henry’s gallery and to the Arundel Collection, after which they proceeded together to Oxford. That was in 1618. Four years later de Gheyn was back in London, as is apparent from the remains of a sketchbook containing views of Hampton Court [12] and other places.¹² We will return to his ‘English’ works later on, in a different context. Constantijn Huygens also made a number of drawings during the trip. In June 1622, he immortalised himself through a self-portrait in an Album Amicorum (friendship book) [13].¹³ The other Dutch miniaturist to appear in England at the start of the 17th century was the adventurer Balthazar Gerbier d'Ouvilly (1591-1663). He made a portrait of the young Charles I in 1616 when the latter was Prince of Wales [14]. Gerbier, who subsequently returned to England on several occasions, enjoyed excellent relations with the court and the aristocracy. He accompanied Charles I on his unsuccessful search for a bride in Spain in 1623. At the behest of Buckingham and the royal family, he was also active as a picture dealer and political secret agent. His miniatures are pictures in the manner of Hendrick Goltzius and de Gheyn, both of whom he must have known [15].¹⁴

11
Jacques de Gheyn (II)
Portrait of a man wearing sash, dated 1594
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv./cat.nr. RP-P-1913-2540

During the reign of James I, and even more after the accession to the throne of the artistically inclined Charles I, a new wave of Netherlandish portraitists made their way to England. Best known among them were Paulus van Somer, Daniel Mijtens I, Gerard van Honthorst and Hendrick Pot. Henry Peacham was rather offended by this acclamation for non-British artists: ‘I am sorry that our courtiers and great personages must seeke far and neer for some Dutchman or Italian to draw their pictures, our Englishmen being held for Vaunients [= good for nothing]’.¹⁵ The court and the nobility definitely preferred artists from abroad. They set great store by a painter’s taste and skill and, in particular, by his modernity. Once Mijtens was in vogue, no one was interested in the older Gheeraerts anymore, and when van Dyck appeared on the scene Mijtens was eclipsed.

At the beginning of the 17th century, several English artists were apparently sent to Holland to learn from their Dutch counterparts. In 1613, for instance, a certain Nataniel Austyn (born c. 1597) studied in Amsterdam under a little-known artist named Jan Teunissen (born 1589). Tobias Franck (c. 1574-1602), a painter from England, was mentioned as being in Amsterdam around 1600, and the same was true a little later of an Esaias Wilbout (c. 1583-1644) ‘van Noorwitz, schilder’ [= of Norwich, painter]. Jeffery Sillemans (died 1646) was made a citizen of Amsterdam in 1610, while a Willem Bertram (born c.1594) was married in Amsterdam in 1623. He was a draughtsman in the manner of Hendrick Potuyl and Pieter Quast [16].¹⁶

16
Willem Bertram
Study with soldiers playing dice