AN ELIZABETHAN MINIATURE IN THE PARKER LIBRARY, CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

Cambridge Bibliographical Society

AN ELIZABETHAN MINIATURE IN THE PARKER LIBRARY, CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE,CAMBRIDGEAuthor(s): ALISON WILSONSource: Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Vol. 10, No. 4 (1994), pp. 460-485, 487Published by: Cambridge Bibliographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41154834 .

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Plate 4: Corpus Chnsti MS 582: miniature of Queen Elizabeth pasted to front endpaper



AN ELIZABETHAN MINIATURE IN THE PARKER LIBRARY,

CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

ALISON WILSON

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 582 A presentation copy of the Statutes of Corpus Christi College as approved by the Visitors appointed by Queen Elizabeth I in 1559 was given to the College on January 3 1st 1573/4 by its Master, Archbishop Matthew Parker. The Statutes are preceded by the College coat of arms, devised by Parker himself and granted in December 1570, and followed by the official list of Parker's benefactions to the colleges of Corpus Christi, Gonville and Caius and Trinity Hall: his books, plate and money. The documents were authenticated by the signatures of the surviving Visitors: Parker, William Cecil Lord Burghley, the Bishops of Durham and Winchester and Sir Anthony Cooke, and sealed with the oval College seal. The whole was simply but finely bound in calf with a gold-tooled Tudor rose and crown in the centre of each board,1 and for further protection, a wooden box with a sliding lid was provided, shaped to hold the book and seal.

This book, then, was a compilation of documents which Parker had been personally involved in creating, and which he considered of the highest value. It is in that context that we must view the pictures pasted on the front and back endpapers which complete the contents. These are two engraved and illuminated miniatures: a majestic portrayal of the Queen incorporating three Biblical texts, and a portrait of Parker at the age of seventy, both framed in delicate ornamental borders which give some decorative unity to the styl- istically disparate pictures (Plates 4 and 5). They are clearly images of personal and historic importance which Parker wanted preserved for posterity in the safe haven of the academic environment which he

1. The binding is by Parker's own 'Lambeth Binder' see G. D. Hobson, Bindings in Cambridge Libraries (Cambridge, 1929) P1.35. Hobson considers the use of the crowned rose 'merely decorative', even careless, but more likely this and the miniature were Parker's way of signifying that the Statutes had the royal imprimatur.

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had chosen for his collection of books and manuscripts.2 Binding the miniatures with the College statutes was intended to ensure their survival so long as the institution existed.

The portrait of Parker at the end of the Statutes shows the elderly archbishop seated at a table with a book open in front of him. An hour-glass stands on the window-sill, reinforcing his motto on the oval frame: 'Mundus transit, et concupiscentia eius'. In the spandrels of the rectangle which encloses the portrait are four coats of arms, those of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker, Christ Church Canterbury and Corpus Christi College. The whole is an engraving on copper, probably based on a large oil-painting at Lambeth Palace attributed to Richard Lyne. It is the work (signed R. Berg) of Remigius Hogenberg, a Fleming who came to England about 1560 and is known to have been in Parker's employment in the 1570s.3 The portrait was probably engraved for inclusion in the De antiquitate Britannicae ecclesiae, his historical survey of the independence of the church in England.4 A copy is stuck into the manuscript of the De antiquitate at the end of the life of Parker, next to a Latin elegy.5 Parker must have had a number of copies printed for use as required. There are two states of the engraving, 1572 and 1573,6 and the later one is used in the Statutes, giving Parker's age as 70. It is illuminated in sombre colours, sufficiently opaque to conceal most of the printed lines. Although he modestly tucked it away at the back of the Statutes, Parker obviously intended the College which he had done so much to promote to have a memorial of himself.

2. Parker's methods of safeguarding his collection are well known. He provided for an annual inventory check by representatives of three colleges: Corpus Christi, Gonville and Caius and Trinity Hall. If Corpus Christi were proved guilty of negligence, the whole collection would be transferred to the next college on the list. C.C.C.C. MS 575 contains the instructions. The Statutes would have been kept in the College chest. 3. For Remigius and his brother Francisais Hogenberg see Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kuenstler, vol. 17 (Leipzig, 1924) and A. M. Hind, Engraving in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: a descriptive catalogue with introductions. Vol.1. The Tudor Period (Cambridge, 1952) 64-5. 4. De antiquitate Britannicae ecdesiae &. priuilegiis ecclesiae Cantuariensis, cum Archiepiscopis eiusdem 70 (In aedibus Iohannis Daij, Londini, 1572) STC 19292. 5. Lambeth Palace Library MS 159. A British Library copy, G.I 1757, has the

portrait of Parker inserted on a front flyleaf. 6. See A M. Hind, List of works of native and foreign line- engravers in England from Henry VIII to the Commonwealth (London, 1905(?)) 52.

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The frontispiece miniature7 The miniature which forms the frontispiece to the Statutes is an altogether more puzzling work of art which has been noticed in passing by bibliographers and art historians but never studied in depth.8 It is an illuminated copy on vellum of an engraving depicting Queen Elizabeth enthroned with the regal symbols of crown, orb and sceptre, and surrounded by four named Virtues: Justice, Mercy, Fortitude and Prudence. A central cartouche beneath the throne divides the main picture space from a niche holding a tiny miniature scene of Matthew Parker preaching to an aristocratic congregation (Plate 6). The presentation of the Statutes gives a terminus ad quern of 1573 for this illumination, but the same composition is found as an engraved title-page to the quarto edition of the Bishops' Bible,9 giving a latest date of 1569 for the design itself.10

At first glance it is difficult to reconcile this date with the style, technical ability and artistic assurance of the work. The complex pictorial design with its use of classical motifs, the accomplished handling of the figures of the Virtues in the Mannerist style and the minutely detailed limning of the preaching scene suggest a versatile artist at the height of his powers, in touch with Continental fashions. Yet it is commonly accepted that in the mid-sixteenth century English art was in the doldrums. The death of Henry VIII brought to an end the lavish patronage of the arts by the crown which had led to a first flowering of Renaissance art in England. Neither Mary I nor Elizabeth I had a court painter in her employment, and portraits from the early years of Elizabeth's reign are dull and conservative. Hilliard painted his first miniature of the Queen in 1572, meanwhile the uninspired productions of Levina Teerlinc served as official images in books and on seals. The allegorical portraits of the Queen and the masques and processions projecting her image for politica) and religious purposes are associated with the period after 1575.

7. The term 'frontispiece' is used here to indicate the lecorated front or façade to a book. See M.Corbett, and R.Lightbown, The comely frontispiece... (London, 1979). 8. Notices are found in E. C. Pearce, 'Matthew Parker, The Library, 4th Series, 6 (1926) 209-28; Burlington Fine Arts Club, Catalogue of an exhibition of late Elizabethan art (1926); E. Auerbach, Tudor artists: a study of painters in the royal service... (London, 1954) 128-29; Hind, Engraving, 7; R. I. Page, Matthew Parker's legacy; booh and plate [Cambridge, 1975]. 9. The holi bible (R. Jugge, 1569) STC 2105. 10. Hind, Engraving, 7 gives a tentative attribution to John Bettes.

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In an attempt to provide a context for this work, we need to bear in mind that the Tudor painters were artist-craftsmen, not specialists in one particular genre.11 Holbein is said to have learnt limning late in life from Hornebolte and he designed at least two engraved initials. Hilliard trained as a goldsmith, designed woodcuts and painted panel pictures as well as miniatures.12 Many artists worked in Henry VIII's household, turning their hands to wall painting, designs for tapestry and stained glass, illumination of documents, costumes and dec- orations for the royal fêtes as required. In the applied arts they drew on the same repertory of Italian Renaissance motifs for engraving jewels, plate and the title-pages, borders and devices in printed books.13 On a larger scale the same style is found in monuments such as the tomb of Sir Robert Dormer at Wing, Buckinghamshire ( 1552) and carved wooden panelling and stone fire surrounds, examples of which may be seen at Losely House, Surrey ( 1562-68).

14 Henry VIII

recruited foreign craftsmen, notably the Hornebolte family from

Bruges, and Edward VI's official painter was a Fleming, William Scrots.15 After the Elizabethan Settlement a steady stream of artists from the Low Countries emigrated to London and the South East for

religious reasons, bringing with them what the painter and architect John Shute called 'the new style1.16 Italian and French Mannerist features reached England via Antwerp and were moderated to harmonise with the native tradition. We therefore have to look at a range of decorative and fine arts to unravel the sources of the frontispiece design: illumination, engraving, printing, royal portraiture and allegorical paintings. This is most easily approached by analysing the iconographical features in turn.

11. R. Strong, The English Renaissance miniature (Rev. ed., London, 1984) 8-9. 12. E. Auerbach, Nicholas Hilliard (London, 1961). 13. A fine example of contemporary plate is the gilt cup and cover given to Corpus Christi College by Matthew Parker in 1569. It is decorated with cameos, masks, scrolls and arabesque ornament after the style of Geminus and surmounted by an antique figure. 14. I am indebted to Dr Jean Wilson for these references and other valuable comments. 15. A wide repertoire of Italiana te motifs is found in the paintings of William Scrots and his circle. Scrots was in the service of King Edward VI from 1545 to 1553. 16. John Shute was an artist-craftsman in the service of the Duke of Northumberland who sent him to Italy in 1550 to learn about Renaissance architecture. He published The first and chief groundes of architecture... (T. Marshe, London, 1563) STC 22464. He is known to have painted miniatures and probably engraved the plates for his own book.

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The figure of Queen Elizabeth I The central figure of the Queen is hieratic, posed in the same frontal, symmetrical style found in panel paintings of her ancestors (notably the enthroned Richard II in Westminster Abbey) and on many official documents. The face is expressionless and the slight figure is given majestic bulk by the wide splay of the arms and the arrangement of the drapery. The royal image strongly recalls those in the initial letters of charters and patents, reproducing an official pattern which was never intended to be a close likeness. However, if we compare the frontispiece with these static types, we see that, although still medieval in concept, it is poised and full of tension. The subject looks alert, her fingers are spread, not relaxed, and her slightly forward- leaning pose makes her seem ready to spring out of the picture. The drapery is arranged in a curving decorative surface pattern, and the colours are warm and rich. The artist is drawing on the native tradition but giving it a new vitality and sophistication.

The 1569 engraving exhibits an ideal, mask-like face, but the Corpus illumination has individuality: the forehead is high, the nose longer and very slightly hooked, the eyes small and piercing. It is a miniature portrait of the Queen, certainly intended to be a likeness, and much superior to the bland paintings and drawings of the early years of her reign. There is in fact a dearth of portraits from this period.17 A miniature which obviously had a close affinity with the frontispiece is known only from a copy made by Hilliard around 1600.18 This is a frontal image of the Queen in a very similar pose, wearing her crown and coronation robes and holding the orb and sceptre. Strong dates the original to about 1559. The narrow waistline and exaggerated spread of the arms revealing the lining of the cloak are peculiar to these portraits. However in the frontispiece Elizabeth is wearing her Parliament cloak of red velvet, not the gold embroidered coronation robes, so this cannot be Hilliard's original.19

17. See R. Strong, Gloriaría (London, 1987) 59: '...no picture remotely resembling an ad vivum likeness is known' [in the first ten years of the Queen's reign]. 18. R. Strong, Artists of the Tudor court. Exhibition catalogue (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1983) fig. 211 and description pp. 131-32. Strong suggests that the lost coronation miniature was by Levina Teerlinc. 19. See J. Arnold, 'The "coronation" portrait of Queen Elizabeth I', The Burlington Magazine, CXX (1978) 727-41 for details of Queen Elizabeth's costumes. The Parliament robes were renewed for the coronation in crimson velvet from Lucca, with

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Figure 1: Initial C from Foxe's Book of Martyrs (1563)

Perhaps an even closer relation to the Corpus miniature was another lost portrait, 2.25 x 2", recorded in the collection of Charles I: 'Inprímis don upon the righte. lighte a full forward-/ faced Picture of Queene Elizabeth in her-/ Perliament Roabes with Scepter and Gloabe in/ her hands....' It is annotated by van der Doort, the cataloguer, 'don by ould Hilliard'.20 It seems quite possible that this too was a copy by Hilliard of a picture painted to commemorate the accession.

'a furre of powdred Ermyns for the same'. Ibid. 735. 20. See O. Millar, 'Abraham van der Doort's catalogue of the collections of Charles 1 , Walpole Sodety, XXXVII (1960) 112 (40).



Another forerunner of the Corpus design is the engraving of the fine initial C which the printer John Day had cut for Foxe's Book of Martyrs (1563) (Fig. I).21 Because of the wide dissemination and public display of the book it became one of the best known images of the Queen. She is depicted sitting on a canopied throne on a pediment labelled 'Elisabetha Regina'. She wears crown, collar and ermine-trimmed gown as in the coronation portrait but carries a sword instead of a sceptre. On her right three elderly men (representatives of the Lords, Commons and Clergy) stand awaiting instructions, and below them is the humiliated, naked figure of the Pope, his keys broken, about to be bitten by serpents.

The 1569 engraving incorporates several of these pictorial elements (the throne set under a canopy, scrollwork, the sword and serpent and the loyal subjects), and has the same purpose; to epitomise the royal supremacy secured in the Elizabethan Church Settlement. By virtue of her office the Queen is imbued with secular and ecclesiastical power. Her Parliament robes remind us that her claims have been legally established. She is depicted as supreme governor of the Church, dispensing justice tempered with mercy, confessing the faith (Romans I) and demanding that her subjects do likewise (Luke XI). It is the archbishop's function to preach the word of God, but the diminutive size of his figure and the placing literally beneath the Queen's feet, though sheltered by her throne, suggest a thoroughly subservient role for Matthew Parker, close to that of a medieval donor revering a saint.22 'God save the Queen' across the bottom of the miniature seems to be the message of her dutiful church and state. The quotation from Isaiah 49 translated 'queens shall be your nursing mothers' does little to soften the effect.

The group portrait: Parker preaching The preaching scene has its origins in initials containing group portraits, a familiar component of medieval manuscripts. Documents with illuminated initials showing the monarch and dignitaries are

21. John Foxe, Actes and monuments of these latter and perillous dayes, touching matters of the Church... (London, John Day, 1563) STC 11222. 22. To Parker's sorrow the Queen often acted arbitrarily and opposed his views: she felt that his place was as her agent. Typically, when he feasted her at Canterbury, she did not invite her host to sit on the high table. See V. J. K. Brook, A life of Archbishop Parker (Oxford, 1962).

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found in Henry VIII's time,23 for example the patent for Cardinal College Oxford, 1529, shows, in the initial H, Henry sitting in regal majesty with Wolsey receiving the charter on his right and representatives of the state on his left. The Valor Ecclesiasticus contains two group miniatures of Henry VIII and attendant courtiers (1535 and 1539). All three have been attributed to the Hornebolte atelier which also illuminated the Liber Niger of the Knights of the Garter (1534). This contains a series of illuminations unconfined by initials, deriving from the Bruges-Ghent manuscript tradition. Moving forward to 1547, Auerbach has singled out a document remarkable for its group portrait in the style of Italo-Flemish Mannerism, a letter patent confirming a grant of land in Essex (Plate 7).24 The top and bottom of the scene is enclosed by borders made up of strapwork, scrolls, a mask and garlands of fruit; the classical motifs found in the frontispiece miniature. Putti and wreaths also feature. Moreover, the initial no longer contains the miniature but has been moved outside, leaving a complete illustrated panel on the left hand side of the document, a halfway stage towards the separate title-page which developed with the printed book. In the same way, the make-up of the Corpus Statutes can be viewed as a legal document preceded by a related illumination.

The 1547 document shows the enthroned King Edward VI in a

lively pose receiving the cartulary from the Master of the Hospital of St Thomas Acton and watched by the Duke of Somerset, Richard Rich, the Earl of Warwick and other courtiers. The setting is a Renaissance building with an ornamental ceiling and columns and a view of landscape beyond. In the frontispiece design the Queen's subjects are moved to a lower level and another setting, a novel

departure from the standard formula. The portrait of Parker is

immediately recognisable, without the clue of the hour-glass,25 even on this scale; Lord Burghley is on his right, and we can be sure that the rest of the group were all known to a contemporary audience; a remarkable feat of limning. This room too has Renaissance columns

23. See Strong, Miniature, 38-41. 24. Auerbach, Tudor artists, Plate 27 and pp. 86-87. 25. The hour-glass, found also in the portrait in old age, may have been Parker's emblem, connected with his motto. A finely decorated hourglass is listed in the

inventory of his goods. 'Copy of the inventory of Archbishop Parker's goods', Archaeologia XXX (1844).

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and a glimpse of distant scenery. One hesitates to make much of the

parallels for at least twenty years separate the two designs, but the

designer of the frontispiece must have been familiar with such documents, perhaps was even trained on them.

The four Virtues The figure of the Queen in the 1569 engraving is surrounded and

symbolically supported by the four Virtues personified as heroic women.26 They are depicted in the pure Mannerist style derived from Italy via France and the Low Countries, characterised by elongated limbs, expressive hands and small heads (the Queen's head is half as big again). They are dressed in copious swirling layers of drapery with bared or lightly veiled breasts and their bodies are full of sinuous movement. The Virtues present their profiles in contrast to the Queen's full face, and their twisting movement serves to emphasise her stillness, but they share the same rich ornament and linear decoration.

Medieval monarchs asserted their Divine Right by showing themselves in the company of saints and angels. Such religious imagery was denied to English artists after the Reformation and particularly in the 1560s when passions ran high concerning the removal of popish ornaments and images. Classical sources, already well established by the import of tapestries, books and objets d}art, provided an alternative. In the Corpus miniature the four Virtues carry their attributes: Justice a sword, Mercy a book (which may be the Bible), Fortitude a broken pillar, a symbol of constancy alluding to Samson, and Prudence a serpent. Thus as well as the general Christian concept of the virtues and vices there are two connections with the scriptures. The choice of virtues on the other hand signifies secular power: the artist depicts three of the four imperial virtues which are Pietas, Justitia, dementia and Virtus.27 Prudence has been substituted for Piety, perhaps to avoid any suggestion of subservience to the Church which might undermine the Queen's prerogative. The revival of Roman imperial trappings by the Emperor Charles V, who visited England in 1522, was taken up by the French and English

26. The theme of the ruler upheld by the virtues was common in medieval art and thought. The pageant for the Queen's entry into London in 1559 showed four virtues (Pure religion, Love of subjects, Wisdom and Justice) trampling on corresponding vices. See S. Anglo, Spectacle, pageantry and early Tudor policy (London, 1969). 27. See F. Yates, Astraea: the imperial theme in the sixteenth century (London, 1975) 65.

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courts during his lifetime and became increasingly popular in the course of Elizabeth's reign. It may be that the over-large crown which Justice and Mercy are holding over the Queen's head is part of this imagery. The so-called Imperial crown of England weighed seven

pounds and was too heavy to wear.28 The female Virtues are fitting attendants for the young queen, but

they are more than heroic supporters: the pictorial composition of outstretched arms and inward-turned heads links them to her crown and throne as if to show that her status automatically confers superhuman power. The picture is very close in date to the earliest allegorical panel paintings featuring the Queen, 'Queen Elizabeth and the three goddesses1 (e. 1569)29 and 'The allegory of the Tudor succession' (probably celebrating the Treaty of Blois, 1572).

30 Neither of these has been definitely attributed, but the consensus is that they are by Flemish artists, Hans Eworth and Lucas de Heere respectively. In both pictures, as in the frontispiece, native tradition and Con- tinental styles meet: there is a distinct difference in the treatment of the rather stiff royal personages and the swirling movement of the

allegorical figures, clad in drapery very similar to that of the Virtues. The goddesses Pallas, Juno and Venus are vanquished by the Queen's superiority, but Peace and Plenty support her in the same way as the Virtues in the miniature. Later in the century allegorical paintings such as Isaac Oliver's 'Virtue confronts vice* and elaborate pageants and masques developed similar subject matter with increasing complexity.

Sources and parallels in printed books In searching for antecedents and parallels to the Corpus frontispiece in printing, we recall that the 1569 version of the design is an

engraved title-page for the quarto edition of the Bishops' Bible (Plate

28. See J. Arnold, op.dt, 732. 29. The painting, signed HE 1569, is at Hampton Court. Auerbach accepts it as the work of Hans Eworth (Tudor artists 131 and 162). R. Strong, The English icon: Elizabethan and Jacobean portraiture (London, 1969) 143-45 postulates an unknown artist: 'The monogram HE is different in form to that used by Hans Eworth'. 30. See Strong, Icon, 139-41 on the Allegory ot the ludor Succession which he attributes to Lucas de Heere.

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Figure 2: Device of Richard Jugge

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8).31 Richard Jugge, a learned man educated at Eton and King's College, was the printer, and his device, which he had been using since 1552, was the pelican in her piety (a type of Christ feeding his flock) supported by the virtues Prudencia and Iusticia (Fig. 2).32 Though less contorted and energetic than the Virtues of the frontispiece miniature, they are undeniably from the same tradition. Their dress and placing of attributes are similar (except that Justice carries scales as well as sword), and they stand in a framework which is a simplified version of the title-page composition. The large swags of fruit and vegetables which fill in the corners of the design are another convincing link with the 1569 engraving. A second, smaller version of the device is found from 1560 onwards. Both woodcuts are signed with an italic capital A, which is also found on a border compartment featuring putti and foliage and on an alphabet of woodcut initials. McKerrow mentions the conjecture that they are the work of an Antwerp engraver, Anton Sylvius 'but the identification appears to be still open to question'.33 In any case this would not help with the identification of the artist(s) who prepared the designs.

Thomas Geminus produced the first prints from copper plates in England, including the earliest engraved title-page for his Compendiosa totius anatomie delineato... of 1545. This impressive folio page incor-

porates putti, satyrs and allegorical figures in a compartmentalised architectural framework. Victory is placed at the top, above the royal arms of Henry VIII, which are flanked by Justice, blindfold and

carrying sword and scales and Prudentia, holding a snake. In the 1559 edition,34 the arms are replaced by a portrait bust of Queen Elizabeth in her coronation gown, providing another iconographical

31. R. B. McKerrow, and F. S. Ferguson, Title-page borders used in England and Scotland 1485-1640 (Bibliographical Society, London, 1932) No.l27a. This is referred to as a wood engraving by Auerbach and Hind. Elsewhere it is considered a copper plate. It is impossible to tell the difference from prints alone, but in later use with the figure of the queen and some text cut away, the block exhibits a crack which could only occur in wood. See McKerrow and Ferguson No. 127c. 32. R. B. McKerrow, Printers' and publishers' devices in England and Scotland 1485-1 640

(Bibliographical Society, London, 1913) Device 125a. It was first used in Jugge's 4° New Testament of 1552 (Tyndale's version), STC 2867. Parker employed the

symbolism of the pelican when he designed the arms of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, granted in 1570. 33. McKerrow and Ferguson, xxxvi. 34. T. Geminus, Compendiosa totius anatomie delineato... ([N. Hill and J. Kingston] (for T. Geminus), London, 1559) STC 11718.

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link with the 1569 Bible title-page. The style of Geminus is however much more linear and open, with little shading or attempt at depth.

The strapwork cartouche, invented by the school of Fontaine- bleau, finds its way into English printing in the 1540s and 1550s. Three-dimensional scrollwork is combined with classical motifs and allegorical figures producing fanciful designs which tease the eye with their spatial tricks. The designer of the Bible title-page was clearly a master of this craft: the Queen's throne becomes part of the cur- vaceous strapwork which juts forward into the picture plane at top and bottom, yet allows a view through to a distant landscape in the preaching scene. There is confident use of light and shade to intensify the effect of depth. Apart from the Virtues, the motifs included are antique columns, scrolls which may be hollow or pierced, termini on the front of the throne, masks (a lion and a human face) and bunches of swelling fruit and vegetables.

The internal New Testament title-page of the 1569 quarto Bible is much simpler than the main one, with a border composed of several ornaments and a small empty cartouche at the bottom of the page. However, it seems very likely that it was the work of the same designer, for it employs very similar scrolls, lion masks and the distinctive bunches of fruit including a forked root vegetable and a curved marrow or aubergine. The male and female termini occupying the side borders are enlarged versions of those on the Queen's throne: even the tassels at their sides are the same. Turning to the 1568 folio Bishops' Bible, we know that the title was engraved and probably designed by Franciscus Hogenberg, and it is interesting to see the different handling of the same motifs. Interlocked strapwork fills the space around the Queen's half length figure, more disciplined bunches of fruit are interspersed with drapes and stiff-leaved foliage. Faith and Charity, two of the ecclesiastical virtues, flank the Queen, but there is no attempt to integrate these pictorial elements. In contrast, on the New Testament title-page Faith and Charity bend towards the royal arms in the same way that Prudence and Justice support Day's pelican device, and the scrolls at the bottom thrust forward in an exaggerated three-dimensionality. Other examples of this designer's work in the folio Bible may be the title cartouche with lion masks and scrolls exactly in the pattern of the central cartouche of the 1569 title with added elongated vegetables, and the frames to the woodcut illustrations which decorate the text.

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Attempts to identify the work of the artist outside these closely related books must be pure conjecture, particularly as the classical motifs were becoming more and more a stock in trade of designers in the 1570s as Flemish craftsmen settled in England to escape the

persecution of Protestants in the Low Countries. The title-page of

Bullinger's A hundred sermons... (156 1),35 re-used for Parker's The whole Psalter translated into English metre (?1567)36 and the Christian prayers and meditations (1569),37 all printed by Day, and a compartment of

strapwork with scrolls, fruit and masks, incorporating Richard Jugge's device,38 must be strong contenders for the same authorship. That the foremost designers as well as printers were known to Matthew Parker we can have little doubt, for the archbishop took a close interest in the

production of his books. Richard Jugge printed Parker's funeral oration for Martin Bucer39 and his Defence ofPriestes mariages*0 as well as the 1566 form of Common Prayer41 and the quarto Bible. Strype refers to him as Parker's good friend. He says too that Parker had a

'particular Kindness' for John Day, printer of the folio Bishops' Bible, and that he interceded for him with the Lord Treasurer when other booksellers tried to prevent him from setting up a shop in St Paul's

Churchyard.42 Day had an Anglo-Saxon font cut at Parker's instig- ation, for printing transcriptions of his manuscripts, and Parker almost

certainly had Day's men installed with a press at Lambeth so that he could oversee the printing of his De antiquitate ecclesiae.43

We know that Parker commissioned engraved initials for the folio

Bishops' Bible.44 The arms of the see of Canterbury impaled with Parker begin the genealogical table, Parker's arms and motto form a

35. Heinrich Bullinger, A hundred sermons upon the Apocalips ((J. Day), [1561]) STC 4061. 36. The whole psalter translated into English metre (J. Day, fl567?l) STC 2729. 37. Christian prayers and meditations... (J. Daye,1569) STC 6428. 38. McKerrow, Devices.: Device No. 182. This is a compartment with masks, fruit and

vegetables, strapwork and scrolls used for the title of the second part of Jugge's Bible of 1575: STC 2114. His punning device, a nightingale in a thornbush, is inset at the base. 39. Matthew Parker, How we ought to take the death of the godly, a sermon made in

Cambrydge... (R. Jugge, [1551?]) STC 19293. 40. A defence ofPriestes mariâtes, (1. Kingston for R. Tueze, ¡1567?]) STC 17518. 41. A fourme to be used in common prayer (R. Jueee & A. Cawood, 1566) STC 16510. 42. John Strype, The life and acts of Matthew Parker... (London, John Wyat, 171 1) 541, 536. 43. Hind, Enrravinr, 14-16. 44. The.holie.hék.œntaynyngthe olde testament and the newe (R. Jugge, [1568]) STC 2099.

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letter O at the beginning of the Preface and several engraved letters with initials below indicate the translators of sections of the Bible. The quarto Bible is a much less ornate production, but it does contain an initial I dividing the arms of Canterbury and Parker at Genesis Chapter I. We have to assume that Parker was involved in the choice of title-pages, possibly even to the extent of planning the iconography.45 The question then arises why the quarto title-page is so different from the folio design, which was obviously satisfactory because it was used again in the 1572 edition. The practical reason is that the main copper plate of 1568 was too large, even without the title cartouche.46 If scaled down it would still be too long and narrow for the quarto and would need alteration to incorporate the title.

The quarto was the economy version of the Bishops' Bible, printed on thinner paper and omitting the illustrations. It was intended to be placed in houses throughout the realm. The complex new title-page therefore comes as a surprise, for it would have been quite in character for Parker to have re-used an old design as he did others that pleased him (initials, the large Corpus Christi College coat of arms, the bird's- eye view of the Old Schools at Cambridge). However, there is convincing internal evidence that the title-page was specially commissioned for this edition. Enlargement of the tiny preaching scene reveals no less than ten books in the hands of the congregation. Several people hold two books each, one small and one large with clasps, which must be the prayer book and the quarto Bible. 'Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it* is the caption in the Statutes, and 'God save the Queen' is printed along the base as an extra pointer to the message that, with the gift of a personal Bible in the vernacular, the Queen has made her subjects literally custodians of the word of God: 'and queens shall be your nursing mothers'.

The quotations added in the Corpus version reveal the iconography to be forceful royal and ecclesiastical propaganda. In place of the title, 'The holi bible', Parker has chosen a verse from Romans promising salvation to all believers. It is as if the Queen is conferring

45. Strong, Artists, 95 writes of the 'essentially co-operative nature of such a project [title-page of the 1602 Bishops' Bible] for not only did it involve designer and engraver it also concerned the author of the complicated iconographie programme'. If Parker were the author it would explain his modest position in the design. 46. The size of the main engravings used on the title-pages is as follows: folio Bible (1568) 19.5x28.9cm; quarto Bible (1569) 12.9xl7cm.

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this blessing directly by fostering preaching and Biblical study, Mercy holding a book may also signify Elizabeth's kindness in allowing a

popular Bible to be produced. The quarto title-page design was used again later, by Parker, in

some copies of the 1574 edition of Caius' De antiquitate Cantabrigiensis Academiae*7 and in the Catalogus Cancellariorum section after the lives of the archbishops in the De antiquitate ecclesiali The small variation in height and the neatly cut italic script of the text replacing the title ('The holi Bible') show that this is another cutting of the design.49 De antiquitate ecclesiae was first published in 1572, but Parker seems to have been working on it for a long time and continued to add to and re-arrange the contents, producing a variety of copies. He re-used the fine initial O from the folio Bible with his arms and motto, probably having it reçut without the line border. It is likely that the second state of the engraving belongs to the same year as the portrait miniature, dated 1572, with which it is associated in Parker's plan for the De antiquitate. (He was too modest to insert the account of his own life in most of the copies, and where he did he left a space, presumably for the concluding years and his portrait). He was still rooted in the manuscript tradition of adding, cutting and pasting, though recognising the possibilities of printing for multiplication of copies.

Position and illumination of the frontispiece In size the miniature in the Statutes does not match either state of the

engraving: it is slightly smaller in area, though similar in proportions

47. John Caius, De antiquitate Cantabrigiensis Academiae (J. Day, London, 15 74) STC 4349. See H. R. Plomer, 'The 1574 edition of Dr John Caius's De antiquitate...1 The Library. 4th Series, 7 (1927) 253-68. Cambridge University Library Sel.4.26 has the arms of the colleges and the plan of the Old Schools stuck in as folded sheets. 48. The usual order of the engravings in De antiquitate ecdesiae is: Title-page of the

Catalogus Cancellarium (recto) , Arms of Cambridge University (verso) , Bird's eye view of the Old Schools (recto), Queen Elizabeth enthroned (verso). However there are

many variant copies. Jugge later re-used the title-page of the 1569 Bible with the figure of the Queen cut away for a book of madrigals. 49. The size of the engraving in Parker's copy of the De antiquitate ecdesiae is 1 2.4 x 17.5cm. (Parker Library Y.8.3). The design is bordered with printers' flowers with inscriptions set in at the top and bottom, so that the three texts are in the same

configuration as in C.C.C.C. MS 582.

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to the quarto plate.50 Possibly the difference of a few millimetres can be explained by shrinkage of the vellum, after it had been dampened for printing. It is not at all clear why this engraving should have been cut out from a sheet only to be stuck on the endpaper unless the original page was smaller than that of the Statutes or had a border or text which Parker wanted to exclude. Most likely it was because the artist required an impression on vellum for his painting, just as miniatures in medieval manuscripts were sometimes prepared separately on fine vellum and stuck into place. However the position- ing on the page is distinctly odd: the page has been ruled up as if to centre the picture, but only the left and bottom margins remain and the decorative border (which is outside the paste-down) is perilously close to the gutter. One can only surmise that Parker had in mind a larger format than that eventually produced by his binder.

The quality of the painting or limning of the engraving and its frame is superb. We know that it could not have come out of Parker's workshop because examples of his limners' painting are found in presentation copies of his printed books. Some of this work is quite amateur, for example the title-pages of the copy of the De antiquitate presented to Lord Burghley, which are coloured in muddy blue, grey, orange and brown. Within the same volume there are well-coloured initials and emblazoned shields, but nothing to equal the artistry of the frontispiece. In the Burghley copy, the engraving, on vellum, of the enthroned Queen is subtly coloured in deep mulberry, pale pink, deep purple and a small amount of red and green. There is very delicate use of gold detail on the clothing and the regal symbols, but the writing remains in black ink. The effect must have been sumpt- uous before the silver paint oxidised. Some of the greyness of the engraving shows through the lighter colours and no real attempt has been made to disguise the printing. The illumination in the Statutes must have an opaque underlay to make the colours show up in all their delicacy and brilliance, for the printing is scarcely visible even with the aid of a magnifying glass. Crimson, turquoise blue, pink, orange and green are the predominant colours. Gold filigree enriches all the garments, and coloured jewels decorate the queen's chain of office and her waistband. The texts in the central cartouche and along

50. The size of the illumination is 1 2.5 x 16.8cm. The additional texts at top and bottom arc each lem high. This corresponds with the engraving on vellum in the copy of De antiquitate ecdesiae presented to Lord Burghley (C.U.L Sel.3.229).

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the bottom are in gold lettering directly on the vellum, but 'God save the Queen' is penned over print. The three illuminated initials in the manuscript are competent, but not of the same quality.

The borders are in the tradition of fifteenth century illuminated humanistic manuscripts and printed books decorated to look like manuscripts. Production of these luxury items centred on Florence and Venice, but dissemination of the books quickly transported the classical motifs across Europe. It is interesting to see the art surviving alongside the printed woodcut borders which, deriving from the

original illuminations, became common in England in the 1550s. This added embellishment is quite different from the integral borders of charters which draw on the same iconography: one has only to compare the undisciplined use of Renaissance motifs in the Emmanuel

College Foundation Charter (1584) with the tight Corpus borders. In

comissioning the illumination, Parker, like the early printers, was

disguising printing (the underlying engravings) as hand production, and so harmonising it with the manuscript Statutes.

The artist It is not likely that a definite attribution for the illumination will ever be possible. The fluency and confidence of the style suggest that the artist must have been a foreigner strongly influenced by Italian fashion, ruling out the two English limners about whom a few facts are recorded, John Shute and John Bettes.51 As we have noted above, limning was only one of several painting techniques and it could be

profitable to examine larger scale works for common features. 'Queen Elizabeth and the three goddesses' shows many similarities. The contrast between the tense, regal pose of the queen and the expressive movement of the goddesses has already been remarked. The drapery and its delicate gold decoration, the shape of the bodies and the faces, particularly the profile of Venus, are very reminiscent of the miniature. The enclosed classical setting and distant landscape view have been translated into a more naturalistic scene in the larger picture. 'The wise and foolish Virgins' (1570) (Plate 9), a lesser known

painting by Hans Eworth, is another composition illustrating a confrontation. Even more than the goddesses, the virgins exhibit all

51. John Shute probably died in 1563 (Auerbach, Tudor artists, 84 and 186). On Bettes see Strong, Icon, 65-68 and Hind, Engraving, 6-7, 82.

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the Mannerist features of the Virtues. The two central figures gesture to each other in poses reminiscent of Justice and Mercy. The arti- culation of their bodies is the same: breasts, navels and knees show through the clinging drapery. Their tip-toe stance or feet off the ground gives an illusion of floating which is very appropriate to this unreal world. This is not a large painting, and a substantial part of it is occupied by the Biblical narrative. Texts are also an important component of the Corpus miniature.

Eworth was trained in Antwerp, was certainly in England by 1549, and may be the 'Hewe Haward' paid by Catherine Parr for miniature portraits of herself and Henry VIII. He painted four panel portraits of Mary I, which makes it likely that a miniature of her by 'Hanc Seward' in Charles I's collection was also by him. The earliest allegorical portrait attributed to him is of Sir John Luttrell, rising naked from the waves to take the hand of Peace ( 1550).52 There is no evidence that he designed engravings: on the other hand, only a few engravings from this period have been attributed. If he designed the 1569 title-page, it seems quite plausible that he was asked to illuminate it when a particularly fine copy was required.

Strong writes 'Like Holbein he [Eworth] has a fascination for scale, which fluctuates at every level from the miniature upwards to the life size'.53 One of his sitters, Baroness Dacre, is shown holding a small portrait of her deceased husband, another wears a portrait miniature on a long cord.54 A number of his paintings have a glimpse of the outdoors or distant small-scale scenes, like the Heaven above the clouds in 'The wise and foolish virgins'. In this respect we recall the tour deforce of a miniature within a miniature in the engraving. Auerbach describes Eworth's panel portraits in terms which apply equally to the frontispiece miniature: 'In spite of crowded back- grounds filled with scenery and allegorical figures, often embarrass- ingly close to the sitters and almost protruding into the foremost

52. Strong Icon, P1.22. 53. Hans Eworth: a Tudor artist and his àrde [Introduction and catalogue by R. Strong.] (City of Leicester Museums and Art Gallery and National Portrait Gallery, Leicester, 1965) x. 54. Strong, Icon, Pis. 45 and 48.

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picture plane, the portraits themselves stand out with surprising strength and solidity'.55

In the 1560s Eworth painted three portraits of the Burghleys, which brings him into the orbit of the royal household and of Parker.56 If, as Strong conjectures, he was out of favour at the

beginning of the reign because of his Catholic patrons, it may be that his allegorical paintings were an attempt to flatter the Queen. He certainly made his reputation in this field, for in 1572 he became the official designer of court fêtes. There are records of a float represent- ing Parnassus in which Apollo and the Muses rode, and a masque in which six ladies were disguised as the Virtues.57 Eworth certainly had the right combination of technical skills and eclecticism to design the

engraving and to illuminate the Corpus copy. By the 1560s he had

developed a confident mature style of his own and built up a great deal of experience of pleasing English patrons by enlivening traditional formats with Continental ideas. On the scant evidence available a tentative attribution to him seems reasonable.

Significance of ike frontispiece However, without knowing the artist's name we can appreciate why Parker thought the miniature important enough to introduce the Statutes of his College. It is a precious work of art, and Parker's

manuscript collection shows that he appreciated beautiful illuminations. It is an icon of his sovereign, Supreme Governor of the church in which he held the highest office. It contains a group portrait of

55. E. Auerbach, 'Holbein's followers in England', The Burlington Magazine, 93 (1951) 50. 56. E. Aueibach, and C. K. Adams, Paintings and sculpture at Hatfield House: a catalogue. (London, 1971) nos. 34, 35, 36. The attribution is not accepted by Strong, see Strong, Icon, 115-16. When Paiker offered Cecil an old manuscript in 1566 he thought of

having a missing illustration supplied by his limner, then recalled that Cecil had his own

'singular artificer to adorn the same' (J. Strype, op. at., 537). Another tenuous connection with Parker is a picture entitled 'the greate Türke' in the inventory of his effects. Eworth's earliest dated picture is of a Turk on horseback. Strong, Icon, Plate 20. 57. A. G. Feuillerat, Documents relating to the Office of the K¿ve¿s...(Louvain,1908). The accounts of the Revels in 1573 record for Candlemas (appropriately) 'One Maske of ladies with lightes being vj vertues'. 'Hawnce Eottes' was paid six shillings for 'sundry patternes' for the ladies' masks. From the payments for materials we can reconstruct the costumes. The virtues wore green satin kirtles, 'with golde sarcenet all overwrought', embroidered and hung with pendants of burnished gold and silk tassels. The sleeves were of 'sylver paper'. On their heads were 'perles sett upon silver bonelace' and flowers. They carried white wax candles burning perfumes.

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himself preaching to courtiers: most rare because limning was usually reserved for royal ceremonies. Finally, it is associated with the

Bishops' Bible, his most ambitious printing project, and the De

antiquitate which occupied his last years. Historical perspective allows us to see that the miniature stands

between two worlds, the medieval and the Renaissance: the old royal pattern portrait and the new fashion for portrait miniatures, the old flat style of painting and ornament and the new experiments with the multi-dimensional picture surface and the revival of classical motifs. The old world of the manuscript and illuminated initials was slowly being replaced by the new conventions of the printed book with its

separate title-page and engraved initials and illustrations. The

growing fashion for allegory, for the Imperial theme and for the votive

images and veneration of the monarch are all foreshadowed here.

Trans. Cambridge Bibliographical Sodety,X. 1994

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