British Portrait Miniatures

BRITISH PORTRAITMINIATURES

t h e c l e v e l a n d

m u s e u m o f a rt

“It is … an ornament with a human history … the whole art and experience of one of the old masters compressed on to the space of a coin of the realm; … a biography on a vignette; a secret whispered in the past, and now revealed with every tone preserved.”J. Lumsden Propert, A History of Miniature Art, 1887

publication dateDecember 2013

titleBritish Portrait MiniaturesThe Cleveland Museum of ArtCory Korkow

priceuk £40.00 | us $65.00

specificationHardbackisbn 978-1-907804-23-6288 pages280 x 240 mm (9½ × 11 in)365 colour illustrationsIn association with the Cleveland Museum of Art

table of contentsDirector’s Foreword Preface and Acknowledgments Collecting British Miniatures at

the Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue Index of Artists

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exhibition detailsBritish Portrait Miniatures from the Cleveland Museum of ArtNovember 10, 2013–February 16, 2014

An imprint of D Giles Limited4 Crescent Stables139 Upper Richmond RoadLondonsw15 2tnUK+44 (0)20 8780 5060www.gilesltd.com

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7

The vast majority of the collections at the Cleveland Museum of Art are fragile, light-sensitive objects that cannot be on permanent view if they are to be preserved for future generations. We display them as often as we can, but for these works, their lives in print and online take on a new urgency, making them available at all times. Their publication is instrumental in spreading awareness of their presence in Cleveland, where scholars and members of the public alike are welcome to make appointments to study these treasures in person.

This publication brings forward the museum’s remarkable British portrait miniatures, issued on the occasion of an exhibition that presents the entire collection of portrait miniatures at the Cleveland Museum of Art, works for which we have a worldwide reputation based on quality and condition, rather than exhaustive coverage. Executed on vellum, card, paper, ivory, and enamel, and often housed in the most extraordinary cases that are integral to the objects, portrait miniatures are complicated objects meant to be examined up close and from all sides. Several are published here for the first time.

A specialist in British art, Research Fellow Cory Korkow joined the museum in 2008 to survey and catalogue this extraordinary collection. Dr. Korkow pioneered the museum’s first online catalogue, launched in 2012 and featuring a subset of the British miniatures. She also spear-headed a number of carefully considered acquisitions that would add to this core group of masterworks while maintaining the collection’s historic focus on quality, condition, and historical importance.

I am grateful to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for providing the initial funding for the early stages of this project, the Andrew W. Mellon Founda-tion for their support of scholarly publications, as well as the Painting and Drawing Society, whose generous sustenance of Dr. Korkow’s research and writing brought this catalogue and exhibition to fruition.

David FranklinThe Sarah S. and Alexander M. Cutler Director

Director’s Foreword

Detail of cat. 7 (recto)

7

The vast majority of the collections at the Cleveland Museum of Art are fragile, light-sensitive objects that cannot be on permanent view if they are to be preserved for future generations. We display them as often as we can, but for these works, their lives in print and online take on a new urgency, making them available at all times. Their publication is instrumental in spreading awareness of their presence in Cleveland, where scholars and members of the public alike are welcome to make appointments to study these treasures in person.

This publication brings forward the museum’s remarkable British portrait miniatures, issued on the occasion of an exhibition that presents the entire collection of portrait miniatures at the Cleveland Museum of Art, works for which we have a worldwide reputation based on quality and condition, rather than exhaustive coverage. Executed on vellum, card, paper, ivory, and enamel, and often housed in the most extraordinary cases that are integral to the objects, portrait miniatures are complicated objects meant to be examined up close and from all sides. Several are published here for the first time.

A specialist in British art, Research Fellow Cory Korkow joined the museum in 2008 to survey and catalogue this extraordinary collection. Dr. Korkow pioneered the museum’s first online catalogue, launched in 2012 and featuring a subset of the British miniatures. She also spear-headed a number of carefully considered acquisitions that would add to this core group of masterworks while maintaining the collection’s historic focus on quality, condition, and historical importance.

I am grateful to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for providing the initial funding for the early stages of this project, the Andrew W. Mellon Founda-tion for their support of scholarly publications, as well as the Painting and Drawing Society, whose generous sustenance of Dr. Korkow’s research and writing brought this catalogue and exhibition to fruition.

David FranklinThe Sarah S. and Alexander M. Cutler Director

Director’s Foreword

Detail of cat. 7 (recto)

22 23 Collecting British Miniatures at the Cleveland Museum of Art

rarely on display in the galleries. The 1993 Intimate Images exhibition at the CMA was one notable exception (fig. 5). On view for over six months, the show included nearly all of the British miniatures but provided neither a catalogue nor new research.

Private support for miniatures did not die with Edward Greene. His daughter Helen Perry chose to honor her father’s passion by helping the museum purchase Hilliard’s charming Portrait of Charles Howard, 2nd Baron Howard of Effingham, later 1st Earl of Nottingham in 1960 (cat. 1). Several years later she gave the CMA a group of Smart drawings that had presumably belonged to her father but hadn’t formed part of his gift. They included several large, finished portraits, which presented the museum with a dilemma about how to conceive of them in relationship to the miniatures. The answer seems to have been not to display them at all. These drawings are presented here for the first time.

Most recently, the bequest of Muriel Butkin added eight important miniatures, among them the museum’s first work by Alexander Cooper, Portrait of Elizabeth Stuart, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia (cat. 13). Muriel

Greene had stipulated that any profits from the sale of the catalogue go to funds for purchasing miniatures. Throughout his correspondence with the museum is this thread of future acquisitions, reinforcing his view of his gift as a seed that would be augmented over time. The museum bought a number of important miniatures during the early 1950s, including Smart’s early Portrait of Constantine Phipps (cat. 28) and Cosway’s luxuriously set Portrait of Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, later King of the French (cat. 68). An iconic Smart self-portrait (cat. 34) came to Cleveland in 1953 after the Fitzwilliam Museum was unable to raise the financial resources to purchase it.

For tax purposes Greene’s miniature collection had been divided into small groups and given to the museum in 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, and 1949, but it didn’t go on view at the CMA until 1951 (figs. 3, 4). The exhibition was hailed as “one of the most important events in the life of [the] thirty-five year old Museum of Art”11 while Cleveland’s Plain Dealer publicized Greene’s miniatures as “the finest private collection in America.”12 A decade after the exhibition closed, without the stimulus of a collector and his gifts, the miniature collection languished—mythic among experts in the field but

Figure 3. From right to left, William Milliken, Henry Francis, Fred Hollendonner, and John Mackenzie surveying Edward Greene’s miniature collection in preparation for the 35th Anniversary Exhibition, 19 February 1951. Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. Image used with permission of the Plain Dealer.

Figure 4. Gallery view of the 35th Anniversary Exhibition, the Cleveland Museum of Art, 20 June–23 September 1951. The Cleveland Museum of Art Archives, Records of the Photography Studio.

22 23 Collecting British Miniatures at the Cleveland Museum of Art

rarely on display in the galleries. The 1993 Intimate Images exhibition at the CMA was one notable exception (fig. 5). On view for over six months, the show included nearly all of the British miniatures but provided neither a catalogue nor new research.

Private support for miniatures did not die with Edward Greene. His daughter Helen Perry chose to honor her father’s passion by helping the museum purchase Hilliard’s charming Portrait of Charles Howard, 2nd Baron Howard of Effingham, later 1st Earl of Nottingham in 1960 (cat. 1). Several years later she gave the CMA a group of Smart drawings that had presumably belonged to her father but hadn’t formed part of his gift. They included several large, finished portraits, which presented the museum with a dilemma about how to conceive of them in relationship to the miniatures. The answer seems to have been not to display them at all. These drawings are presented here for the first time.

Most recently, the bequest of Muriel Butkin added eight important miniatures, among them the museum’s first work by Alexander Cooper, Portrait of Elizabeth Stuart, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia (cat. 13). Muriel

Greene had stipulated that any profits from the sale of the catalogue go to funds for purchasing miniatures. Throughout his correspondence with the museum is this thread of future acquisitions, reinforcing his view of his gift as a seed that would be augmented over time. The museum bought a number of important miniatures during the early 1950s, including Smart’s early Portrait of Constantine Phipps (cat. 28) and Cosway’s luxuriously set Portrait of Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, later King of the French (cat. 68). An iconic Smart self-portrait (cat. 34) came to Cleveland in 1953 after the Fitzwilliam Museum was unable to raise the financial resources to purchase it.

For tax purposes Greene’s miniature collection had been divided into small groups and given to the museum in 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, and 1949, but it didn’t go on view at the CMA until 1951 (figs. 3, 4). The exhibition was hailed as “one of the most important events in the life of [the] thirty-five year old Museum of Art”11 while Cleveland’s Plain Dealer publicized Greene’s miniatures as “the finest private collection in America.”12 A decade after the exhibition closed, without the stimulus of a collector and his gifts, the miniature collection languished—mythic among experts in the field but

Figure 3. From right to left, William Milliken, Henry Francis, Fred Hollendonner, and John Mackenzie surveying Edward Greene’s miniature collection in preparation for the 35th Anniversary Exhibition, 19 February 1951. Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. Image used with permission of the Plain Dealer.

Figure 4. Gallery view of the 35th Anniversary Exhibition, the Cleveland Museum of Art, 20 June–23 September 1951. The Cleveland Museum of Art Archives, Records of the Photography Studio.

38 39

This striking portrait of Anthony Mildmay (c. 1549–1617), posed confi-dently among the trappings of a gentleman courtier, reveals Hilliard at his most ambitious during the flowering of miniature painting in Elizabethan England. Hilliard executed the work in the years before Mildmay was knighted in 1596 and at the peak of the artist’s popularity at the English court. The son of the wealthy Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer of England, Anthony Mildmay was a member of Parliament and prominent courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, who granted him positions of great political influence.1 In this formal portrait he pauses in the process of arming himself for the joust, conspicuously displaying his fine, long legs, which will be clad in the armor lying at his beribboned feet. A striped, gold embroidered garment—probably the doublet he was wearing—lies on the trunk. The peascod-style breastplate of Mildmay’s Greenwich-made armor tapers and protrudes at the groin, and it has strips of gilded steel—features that mimic the contemporary fashion of civilian doublets.2 On the table next to his dramatic ostrich-plumed helmet lies an ornate wheel-lock pistol, which, along with the sheathed rapier he grips with his left hand, constitutes the weaponry accorded to a gentleman of Mildmay’s status. The docile spaniel in the lower right corner models an attitude of submissiveness toward Mild-may, who was probably in his forties and at the height of his career when this portrait was painted.

Unlike Hilliard’s traditional bust-length portrait miniatures, which often measured under 2 inches high, this larger format allowed the artist not only to lavish attention on the sitter’s dress and accoutrements but also to station him within the context of the tournament—a vital proving ground for an English gentleman at this time. Hilliard’s prowess at illustrating textures is evident in the red velvet of the chair and pillow, the billowing feathers, the stiff canvas tent, and the gleaming silver armor, on which the play of light and shadow are enhanced by the addition of gold paint. The tent (or pavilion) was the private arena in which a gentleman armed himself for the tournament, or rested when he was not actively participating in the competition, which might last many days. It was therefore a temporary representation of his household and was equipped and ornamented accordingly. While Hilliard excelled in rendering fine details and brilliant colors, he did not apply the single-point perspective that would have made this scene more naturalis-tic. Instead, there is an awkward spatial relationship between the tent and the furniture, which recedes into the steeply graded background at incongruent angles, while Mildmay’s figure simultaneously appears elegant and wooden.

3

Portrait of Sir Anthony Mildmay, Knight of Apethorpe, Northants, c. 1590–93

Watercolor on vellum mounted on card, mounted on woodRectangular, 23.3 × 17.4 cm (9 ⅛ × 6 ¾ in.)Signature: nonePurchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1926.554

Provenancec. 1590/93–1617 Sir Anthony Mildmay, Knight of

Apethorpe, Northants (c. 1549–1617); by inheritance to his daughter Mary, Countess of Westmoreland (née Mildmay, d. 1640).

1617–40 Mary, Countess of Westmoreland;

by inheritance to her son Sir Francis Fane (d. 1681, Fulbeck, Lincolnshire).

1640–81 Sir Francis Fane; by inheritance to

his son Sir Francis Fane (d. 1691, Henbury, Gloucestershire).


his son Henry Fane (1669–1726, Brympton, Yeovil, Somerset).

1691–1726 Henry Fane; by inheritance to his

son Henry Fane (1703–1777, Wormsley, Oxfordshire).


daughter Mary Stapleton (née Fane, c. 1744–1835, Oxfordshire), wife of Sir Thomas Stapleton, 5th Bt. (1727–1781, Grey’s Court, Oxford-shire).

1777–1835 Mary Stapleton; by inheritance to

her grandson Rev. Hon. Sir Francis Jarvis Stapleton, 7th Bt. (1807–1874, Mereworth Rectory, Kent).

1835–74 Rev. Hon. Sir Francis Jarvis

Stapleton, 7th Bt.; by inheritance to his son Richard Talbot Plantagenet Stapleton (1834–1899, Grey’s Court, Oxfordshire).

1874–99 Richard Talbot Plantagenet

Stapleton; by inheritance to his son Sir Miles Talbot Stapleton, 9th Bt. (1893–?, Grey’s Court, Oxfordshire).

1899–? Miles Talbot Stapleton, 9th Bt.

1926 Purchased by S. J. Phillips (London)

at Christie’s (London) Stapleton sale for 510 guineas on 11 May (lot 79).

1926 Purchased by Durlacher Brothers

(New York).1926 Purchased by the Cleveland

Museum of Art from Durlacher Brothers for $6,540 on 21 December.

1926 The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Exhibitions1939–40 New York World’s Fair, Masterpieces

of Art, 30 April 1939–27 October 1940, no. 267.

1940 The Cleveland Museum of Art,

Masterpieces of Art from the New York and San Francisco World’s Fair, 7 February–7 March, no. 49.

1947 Victoria and Albert Museum,

London, Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver: An Exhibition to Commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the Birth of Nicholas Hilliard, 1 January–31 December, no. 57.

1956 The Cleveland Museum of Art, Art:

The International Language, 2 October–4 November.


London, Artists of the Tudor Court: The Portrait Miniature Rediscovered, 1520–1620, 9 July–6 November, no. 264.


Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America, 23 March–17 October.

38 39

This striking portrait of Anthony Mildmay (c. 1549–1617), posed confi-dently among the trappings of a gentleman courtier, reveals Hilliard at his most ambitious during the flowering of miniature painting in Elizabethan England. Hilliard executed the work in the years before Mildmay was knighted in 1596 and at the peak of the artist’s popularity at the English court. The son of the wealthy Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer of England, Anthony Mildmay was a member of Parliament and prominent courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, who granted him positions of great political influence.1 In this formal portrait he pauses in the process of arming himself for the joust, conspicuously displaying his fine, long legs, which will be clad in the armor lying at his beribboned feet. A striped, gold embroidered garment—probably the doublet he was wearing—lies on the trunk. The peascod-style breastplate of Mildmay’s Greenwich-made armor tapers and protrudes at the groin, and it has strips of gilded steel—features that mimic the contemporary fashion of civilian doublets.2 On the table next to his dramatic ostrich-plumed helmet lies an ornate wheel-lock pistol, which, along with the sheathed rapier he grips with his left hand, constitutes the weaponry accorded to a gentleman of Mildmay’s status. The docile spaniel in the lower right corner models an attitude of submissiveness toward Mild-may, who was probably in his forties and at the height of his career when this portrait was painted.

Unlike Hilliard’s traditional bust-length portrait miniatures, which often measured under 2 inches high, this larger format allowed the artist not only to lavish attention on the sitter’s dress and accoutrements but also to station him within the context of the tournament—a vital proving ground for an English gentleman at this time. Hilliard’s prowess at illustrating textures is evident in the red velvet of the chair and pillow, the billowing feathers, the stiff canvas tent, and the gleaming silver armor, on which the play of light and shadow are enhanced by the addition of gold paint. The tent (or pavilion) was the private arena in which a gentleman armed himself for the tournament, or rested when he was not actively participating in the competition, which might last many days. It was therefore a temporary representation of his household and was equipped and ornamented accordingly. While Hilliard excelled in rendering fine details and brilliant colors, he did not apply the single-point perspective that would have made this scene more naturalis-tic. Instead, there is an awkward spatial relationship between the tent and the furniture, which recedes into the steeply graded background at incongruent angles, while Mildmay’s figure simultaneously appears elegant and wooden.

3

Portrait of Sir Anthony Mildmay, Knight of Apethorpe, Northants, c. 1590–93

Watercolor on vellum mounted on card, mounted on woodRectangular, 23.3 × 17.4 cm (9 ⅛ × 6 ¾ in.)Signature: nonePurchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1926.554

Provenancec. 1590/93–1617 Sir Anthony Mildmay, Knight of

Apethorpe, Northants (c. 1549–1617); by inheritance to his daughter Mary, Countess of Westmoreland (née Mildmay, d. 1640).

1617–40 Mary, Countess of Westmoreland;

by inheritance to her son Sir Francis Fane (d. 1681, Fulbeck, Lincolnshire).


his son Sir Francis Fane (d. 1691, Henbury, Gloucestershire).


his son Henry Fane (1669–1726, Brympton, Yeovil, Somerset).


son Henry Fane (1703–1777, Wormsley, Oxfordshire).


daughter Mary Stapleton (née Fane, c. 1744–1835, Oxfordshire), wife of Sir Thomas Stapleton, 5th Bt. (1727–1781, Grey’s Court, Oxford-shire).

1777–1835 Mary Stapleton; by inheritance to

her grandson Rev. Hon. Sir Francis Jarvis Stapleton, 7th Bt. (1807–1874, Mereworth Rectory, Kent).

1835–74 Rev. Hon. Sir Francis Jarvis

Stapleton, 7th Bt.; by inheritance to his son Richard Talbot Plantagenet Stapleton (1834–1899, Grey’s Court, Oxfordshire).

1874–99 Richard Talbot Plantagenet

Stapleton; by inheritance to his son Sir Miles Talbot Stapleton, 9th Bt. (1893–?, Grey’s Court, Oxfordshire).

1899–? Miles Talbot Stapleton, 9th Bt.

1926 Purchased by S. J. Phillips (London)

at Christie’s (London) Stapleton sale for 510 guineas on 11 May (lot 79).

1926 Purchased by Durlacher Brothers

(New York).1926 Purchased by the Cleveland

Museum of Art from Durlacher Brothers for $6,540 on 21 December.


Exhibitions1939–40 New York World’s Fair, Masterpieces

of Art, 30 April 1939–27 October 1940, no. 267.


Masterpieces of Art from the New York and San Francisco World’s Fair, 7 February–7 March, no. 49.


London, Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver: An Exhibition to Commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the Birth of Nicholas Hilliard, 1 January–31 December, no. 57.

1956 The Cleveland Museum of Art, Art:

The International Language, 2 October–4 November.


London, Artists of the Tudor Court: The Portrait Miniature Rediscovered, 1520–1620, 9 July–6 November, no. 264.


Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America, 23 March–17 October.

58 59

sacred subjects remain poorly understood and vary considerably. The best known is Head of Christ at the Victoria and Albert Museum (fig. 20), essen-tially a portrait miniature in scale and setting. However, at the same time, this work departs from the conventions of portrait miniatures with Christ’s downcast eyes, his robe, and the position of his head, which he turns over the shoulder. Moreover, the technique—built through stippling—marks a complete rejection of Nicholas Hilliard’s (cats. 1–6) linear mode in favor of Northern Italian sfumato.

More abundant are Oliver’s religious drawings in pen and ink and wash, most on a comparatively large scale. These works also often have a high level of finish, and the lack of corresponding paintings suggests that they were ends in themselves and not preparatory designs. Their subject matter varies from traditional biblical subjects (fig. 21) to devotional images (fig. 22), and they were probably intended for private clients. The elegant artifice of many of these drawings stems from Continental mannerist traditions—elongated poses, elaborate hairstyles, compressed space, emotional restraint—which Oliver would have known both from his origins and subsequent travels on the mainland as well as through the circulation of prints. Other drawings connect to more progressive, naturalistic advances in the visual arts in the early seventeenth century, perhaps through the artist’s visit to Italy around 1610, a theory first postulated by Roy Strong.2 Oliver also appears to have executed copies in miniature of religious paintings in the Royal Collection.3

Madonna and Child in Glory departs from all of these precedents as a finished, large-scale, original composition in watercolor on vellum. Oliver consciously moved away from the mannerist style he used for most of his other religious subjects—including his other known representa-tions of Mary and the infant Christ (figs. 21, 22)—and this work does not relate to the standard language of early-seventeenth-century English narrative painting. He sought an entirely new direction here, perhaps an approach related more to manuscript illumination and panel painting than the highly finished presentation drawing, but nevertheless executed in the most progressive stylistic mode.

This miniature is probably the one referred to in a contemporary docu-ment as a “Madonna of Mr. Oliver’s [that] cost him two years of his life.”4 Its patron and purpose remain unknown, although the work emerges from a deeply personal and highly intellectual approach to a standard Christian subject. The painting may have had an explicitly devotional purpose, or it might have been displayed in a cabinet with other works at this scale. The image’s complexity as well as its unusual theological and iconographical ideas—at odds with the religious and political demands of the Jacobean court—suggest a work either executed by the artist as a private, personal object5 or coming out of a close relationship with an important client. For a Huguenot painter in the English Protestant court to create such a promi-nent Catholic-themed work for his own use would be quite surprising. Oliver worked directly for Anne of Denmark, the queen consort as wife of King James I, and her son, Henry, Prince of Wales. While Anne was nominally Protestant, many believed her to hold Catholic sympathies, and she may have even been a convert.6 In this way, the work might convey covert Catholic leanings and emerge from an inner circle of confidants surrounding the queen, or it may even have been created for the monarch herself.7 Henry is a less likely client but certainly plausible, for his voracious interest in Italianate Renaissance culture during his brief court of 1610–12 emcompassed sacred subjects. Furthermore, he helped reintro-duce—albeit within a thoroughgoing Protestant mindset—the collecting of art with religious subject matter, as the memory of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 began to fade.8

Isaac Oliver I

Figure 20. Head of Christ, c. 1615. Isaac Oliver I. Watercolor on vellum; 5.3 × 4.3 cm (2 × 1 ⅝ in.). Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Image © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Figure 21. The Adoration of the Magi. Isaac Oliver I. Brown wash, with pen and brown ink, heightened with white over graphite; 22.8 × 16.8 cm (9 × 6 ⅝ in.). British Museum, London. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved.

58 59

sacred subjects remain poorly understood and vary considerably. The best known is Head of Christ at the Victoria and Albert Museum (fig. 20), essen-tially a portrait miniature in scale and setting. However, at the same time, this work departs from the conventions of portrait miniatures with Christ’s downcast eyes, his robe, and the position of his head, which he turns over the shoulder. Moreover, the technique—built through stippling—marks a complete rejection of Nicholas Hilliard’s (cats. 1–6) linear mode in favor of Northern Italian sfumato.

More abundant are Oliver’s religious drawings in pen and ink and wash, most on a comparatively large scale. These works also often have a high level of finish, and the lack of corresponding paintings suggests that they were ends in themselves and not preparatory designs. Their subject matter varies from traditional biblical subjects (fig. 21) to devotional images (fig. 22), and they were probably intended for private clients. The elegant artifice of many of these drawings stems from Continental mannerist traditions—elongated poses, elaborate hairstyles, compressed space, emotional restraint—which Oliver would have known both from his origins and subsequent travels on the mainland as well as through the circulation of prints. Other drawings connect to more progressive, naturalistic advances in the visual arts in the early seventeenth century, perhaps through the artist’s visit to Italy around 1610, a theory first postulated by Roy Strong.2 Oliver also appears to have executed copies in miniature of religious paintings in the Royal Collection.3

Madonna and Child in Glory departs from all of these precedents as a finished, large-scale, original composition in watercolor on vellum. Oliver consciously moved away from the mannerist style he used for most of his other religious subjects—including his other known representa-tions of Mary and the infant Christ (figs. 21, 22)—and this work does not relate to the standard language of early-seventeenth-century English narrative painting. He sought an entirely new direction here, perhaps an approach related more to manuscript illumination and panel painting than the highly finished presentation drawing, but nevertheless executed in the most progressive stylistic mode.

This miniature is probably the one referred to in a contemporary docu-ment as a “Madonna of Mr. Oliver’s [that] cost him two years of his life.”4 Its patron and purpose remain unknown, although the work emerges from a deeply personal and highly intellectual approach to a standard Christian subject. The painting may have had an explicitly devotional purpose, or it might have been displayed in a cabinet with other works at this scale. The image’s complexity as well as its unusual theological and iconographical ideas—at odds with the religious and political demands of the Jacobean court—suggest a work either executed by the artist as a private, personal object5 or coming out of a close relationship with an important client. For a Huguenot painter in the English Protestant court to create such a promi-nent Catholic-themed work for his own use would be quite surprising. Oliver worked directly for Anne of Denmark, the queen consort as wife of King James I, and her son, Henry, Prince of Wales. While Anne was nominally Protestant, many believed her to hold Catholic sympathies, and she may have even been a convert.6 In this way, the work might convey covert Catholic leanings and emerge from an inner circle of confidants surrounding the queen, or it may even have been created for the monarch herself.7 Henry is a less likely client but certainly plausible, for his voracious interest in Italianate Renaissance culture during his brief court of 1610–12 emcompassed sacred subjects. Furthermore, he helped reintro-duce—albeit within a thoroughgoing Protestant mindset—the collecting of art with religious subject matter, as the memory of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 began to fade.8

Isaac Oliver I

Figure 20. Head of Christ, c. 1615. Isaac Oliver I. Watercolor on vellum; 5.3 × 4.3 cm (2 × 1 ⅝ in.). Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Image © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Figure 21. The Adoration of the Magi. Isaac Oliver I. Brown wash, with pen and brown ink, heightened with white over graphite; 22.8 × 16.8 cm (9 × 6 ⅝ in.). British Museum, London. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved.

78 79

1980–2008 Muriel Butkin; upon her death,

held in trust by the estate.2008 The Cleveland Museum of Art.

ExhibitionsNone.

BibliographyKorkow, Cory. “Small Wonders: A gift

of portrait miniatures yields charming surprises.” Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 51, no. 1 (January/February 2011): pp. 8–9.

Provenance1924 Paul Davidsohn (Berlin) sale for

600DRM on 27–28 November (lot 57).1

1924–53 Ernst Reinhardt (c. 1881–1953,

Berlin, Lugano, and Riverdale, NY); by inheritance to his wife, Feodora Reinhardt (1890–1974, Berlin, Lugano, and Riverdale, NY).

1953–74 Feodora Reinhardt.by 1975 The Norton Gallery (New York);

purchased by Noah L. Butkin (1918–1980, Shaker Heights, OH) from the Norton Gallery for $1,500 on 10 February 1975.

1975–80 Noah L. Butkin; by inheritance to

his wife, Muriel Butkin (1915–2008, Shaker Heights, OH).

While there are numerous related portraits of this sitter, the distinc-tive feature of this miniature by Hoskins is the large, falling collar. Its plain white linen, broad and simple, was distinguished from the elaborate, scalloped lace versions tied at the neck and seen in several otherwise closely related portraits (figs. 32, 33). In representing Frederick V with a simple collar, Hoskins may have been departing from the transcription of a more elaborate portrait, creating a simpler and ultimately less emulated variant.

A similar portrait by Alexander Cooper (cat. 13) of Frederick V at approximately the same date belongs to the Duke of Buccleuch (fig. 32).4 Cooper was probably trained in his maturity by Peter Oliver (c. 1594–1647), but he spent a great deal of time in the studio of Hoskins, his uncle. Cooper spent part of the 1630s in Holland but lived in London for several years and was close enough to Hoskins that they would have been aware of their mutual occupation with portraits of Frederick V, who never visited England. Apart from its smaller size, Cooper’s portrait differs from the Cleveland version primarily in terms of costume and is one of many representations of Frederick V’s family painted by Hoskins and by Cooper and his brother Samuel (cats. 15–17).5 The Cleveland Museum of Art also owns a miniature by Alexander Cooper of Frederick’s wife, Elizabeth Stuart (cat. 13).

Related miniatures of Frederick V were reproduced in a variety of sizes and materials, including an enamel variant by an unknown artist in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which corresponds closely to Cooper’s Buccleuch miniature (fig. 33).

13Alexander Cooper (English, 1609–1658 or later)Portrait of Elizabeth Stuart, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia, c. 1630s

Watercolor on vellumOval, 3.2 × 2.8 cm (1 ½ × 1 in.)Signature: noneSetting: original blue, white, and black enamel locket with gold; enamel mountBequest of Muriel Butkin, 2008.292

Younger brother of the renowned miniaturist Samuel Cooper (cats. 15–17), Alexander also received training in miniature painting at an early age, first with his uncle John Hoskins (cats. 11–12) and then with Peter Oliver (c. 1594–1647).2 Alexander spent much of his career abroad, first visiting the Hague between 1631 and 1633, then returning to England for some years, before living again in the Hague from 1644–46 and in Stockholm from 1647–54.3 Alexander Cooper’s miniatures lack the psychological perspicacity, innovative compositions, and fluid brushwork of his brother Samuel. Instead, Alexander’s works are celebrated for their delicacy of finish and their austerity. His works are not well known partly because many of his productive years were spent in Holland and Sweden, and none of his miniatures conclusively represent work executed in England.

Elizabeth Stuart appears bust length, facing left. Her dark brown hair falls loosely to her sloping shoulders, with the top-most portion drawn into a bun encircled with pearls. She wears a translucent pearl choker, large drop pearl earrings, and a black gown with a plunging neckline trimmed in white and ornamented in the center with a floriated gold, jeweled brooch. The figure is set against a plain, brownish-gold back-ground. The unsigned miniature is set in an enamel mount in the small locket format typical of the period. The ground is cerulean, with the sitter’s monogram—ES—surmounted by a crown in white and gold.

The Butkins purchased the portrait believing it to be Queen Christina of Sweden, who employed Cooper between 1647 and 1654. Instead, it depicts Elizabeth Stuart, Electress Palatine, and Queen of Bohemia (1596–1662), for whom Cooper painted a remarkable series of portraits in 1632 and 1633. Elizabeth was the daughter of King James I and sister of King Charles I. She married Frederick V, Elector Palatine (cat. 12), in 1613 and was the queen of Bohemia briefly from 1619 until their exile to the Hague in 1621.

Figure 32. Portrait of Frederick V, King of Bohemia and Elector Palatine , c. 1630. Alexander Cooper (British, 1609–1658 or later). Watercolor on vellum; h. 6.8 cm (2 ⅝ in.). Duke of Buccleuch. Reproduced by kind permission of the Duke of Buccleuch & Queensbury KBE.

Figure 33. Portrait of Frederick V, King of Bohemia and Elector Palatine, early 1600s. Unknown artist. Enamel on metal; 4.3 × 3.4 cm (1 ⅝ × 1 ⅜ in.). Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Image © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

1 Schidlof stated that this miniature was in the Brownlow collection, but it was not among the items sold in the Christie’s, London, Brownlow sale of May 1923 or the Sotheby’s, London, Brownlow sale of April 1926.2 It is difficult to state with certainty what the original model is. Miniature portraits of Frederick V wearing armor and a white collar, dating from about 1630, are related to oil paintings by Gerrit van Honthorst and others. This may be a composition that originally occurred in miniature. 3 According to correspondence dated 27

September 1948 and 10 October 1948, as documented in the CMA curatorial file.4 Stephen Lloyd, Portrait Miniatures from the Collection of the Duke of Buccleuch (Edinburgh: Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1996), p. 79, no. 31.5 Another portrait of Frederick V, King of Bohemia, by Alexander Cooper is in the Royal Collection, measuring 1.2 by 1 centimeters (½ by ⅜ inches) and dated around 1632 (RCIN 422346). Graham Reynolds, The Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen (London: Royal Collection, 1999), p. 150.

Alexander Cooper

Cat. 13

78 79

1980–2008 Muriel Butkin; upon her death,

held in trust by the estate.2008 The Cleveland Museum of Art.

ExhibitionsNone.

BibliographyKorkow, Cory. “Small Wonders: A gift

of portrait miniatures yields charming surprises.” Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 51, no. 1 (January/February 2011): pp. 8–9.

Provenance1924 Paul Davidsohn (Berlin) sale for

600DRM on 27–28 November (lot 57).1

1924–53 Ernst Reinhardt (c. 1881–1953,

Berlin, Lugano, and Riverdale, NY); by inheritance to his wife, Feodora Reinhardt (1890–1974, Berlin, Lugano, and Riverdale, NY).

1953–74 Feodora Reinhardt.by 1975 The Norton Gallery (New York);

purchased by Noah L. Butkin (1918–1980, Shaker Heights, OH) from the Norton Gallery for $1,500 on 10 February 1975.

1975–80 Noah L. Butkin; by inheritance to

his wife, Muriel Butkin (1915–2008, Shaker Heights, OH).

While there are numerous related portraits of this sitter, the distinc-tive feature of this miniature by Hoskins is the large, falling collar. Its plain white linen, broad and simple, was distinguished from the elaborate, scalloped lace versions tied at the neck and seen in several otherwise closely related portraits (figs. 32, 33). In representing Frederick V with a simple collar, Hoskins may have been departing from the transcription of a more elaborate portrait, creating a simpler and ultimately less emulated variant.

A similar portrait by Alexander Cooper (cat. 13) of Frederick V at approximately the same date belongs to the Duke of Buccleuch (fig. 32).4 Cooper was probably trained in his maturity by Peter Oliver (c. 1594–1647), but he spent a great deal of time in the studio of Hoskins, his uncle. Cooper spent part of the 1630s in Holland but lived in London for several years and was close enough to Hoskins that they would have been aware of their mutual occupation with portraits of Frederick V, who never visited England. Apart from its smaller size, Cooper’s portrait differs from the Cleveland version primarily in terms of costume and is one of many representations of Frederick V’s family painted by Hoskins and by Cooper and his brother Samuel (cats. 15–17).5 The Cleveland Museum of Art also owns a miniature by Alexander Cooper of Frederick’s wife, Elizabeth Stuart (cat. 13).

Related miniatures of Frederick V were reproduced in a variety of sizes and materials, including an enamel variant by an unknown artist in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which corresponds closely to Cooper’s Buccleuch miniature (fig. 33).

13Alexander Cooper (English, 1609–1658 or later)Portrait of Elizabeth Stuart, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia, c. 1630s

Watercolor on vellumOval, 3.2 × 2.8 cm (1 ½ × 1 in.)Signature: noneSetting: original blue, white, and black enamel locket with gold; enamel mountBequest of Muriel Butkin, 2008.292

Younger brother of the renowned miniaturist Samuel Cooper (cats. 15–17), Alexander also received training in miniature painting at an early age, first with his uncle John Hoskins (cats. 11–12) and then with Peter Oliver (c. 1594–1647).2 Alexander spent much of his career abroad, first visiting the Hague between 1631 and 1633, then returning to England for some years, before living again in the Hague from 1644–46 and in Stockholm from 1647–54.3 Alexander Cooper’s miniatures lack the psychological perspicacity, innovative compositions, and fluid brushwork of his brother Samuel. Instead, Alexander’s works are celebrated for their delicacy of finish and their austerity. His works are not well known partly because many of his productive years were spent in Holland and Sweden, and none of his miniatures conclusively represent work executed in England.

Elizabeth Stuart appears bust length, facing left. Her dark brown hair falls loosely to her sloping shoulders, with the top-most portion drawn into a bun encircled with pearls. She wears a translucent pearl choker, large drop pearl earrings, and a black gown with a plunging neckline trimmed in white and ornamented in the center with a floriated gold, jeweled brooch. The figure is set against a plain, brownish-gold back-ground. The unsigned miniature is set in an enamel mount in the small locket format typical of the period. The ground is cerulean, with the sitter’s monogram—ES—surmounted by a crown in white and gold.

The Butkins purchased the portrait believing it to be Queen Christina of Sweden, who employed Cooper between 1647 and 1654. Instead, it depicts Elizabeth Stuart, Electress Palatine, and Queen of Bohemia (1596–1662), for whom Cooper painted a remarkable series of portraits in 1632 and 1633. Elizabeth was the daughter of King James I and sister of King Charles I. She married Frederick V, Elector Palatine (cat. 12), in 1613 and was the queen of Bohemia briefly from 1619 until their exile to the Hague in 1621.

Figure 32. Portrait of Frederick V, King of Bohemia and Elector Palatine , c. 1630. Alexander Cooper (British, 1609–1658 or later). Watercolor on vellum; h. 6.8 cm (2 ⅝ in.). Duke of Buccleuch. Reproduced by kind permission of the Duke of Buccleuch & Queensbury KBE.

Figure 33. Portrait of Frederick V, King of Bohemia and Elector Palatine, early 1600s. Unknown artist. Enamel on metal; 4.3 × 3.4 cm (1 ⅝ × 1 ⅜ in.). Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Image © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

1 Schidlof stated that this miniature was in the Brownlow collection, but it was not among the items sold in the Christie’s, London, Brownlow sale of May 1923 or the Sotheby’s, London, Brownlow sale of April 1926.2 It is difficult to state with certainty what the original model is. Miniature portraits of Frederick V wearing armor and a white collar, dating from about 1630, are related to oil paintings by Gerrit van Honthorst and others. This may be a composition that originally occurred in miniature. 3 According to correspondence dated 27

September 1948 and 10 October 1948, as documented in the CMA curatorial file.4 Stephen Lloyd, Portrait Miniatures from the Collection of the Duke of Buccleuch (Edinburgh: Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1996), p. 79, no. 31.5 Another portrait of Frederick V, King of Bohemia, by Alexander Cooper is in the Royal Collection, measuring 1.2 by 1 centimeters (½ by ⅜ inches) and dated around 1632 (RCIN 422346). Graham Reynolds, The Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen (London: Royal Collection, 1999), p. 150.

Alexander Cooper

Cat. 13

109108

Living in London, the youngest of seven children, Peter Cross was probably apprenticed to a limner following the death of his wealthy father.2 His first miniatures date from around 1661, and he remained active until his death, ushering the medium into the eighteenth cen-tury; the greatest British miniaturists working during his lifetime—Samuel Cooper (cats. 15–17), John Hoskins (cats. 11–12), Nicholas Dixon (cat. 19), Thomas Flatman (1635–1688), Richard Gibson (cat. 14)—all had died or ceased to work by 1700. Although ivory had been adopted as a support for British miniature painting a decade before his death, Cross exclusively used the older medium of vellum adhered to card. The artist was also an avid collector, assembling an impressive group of miniatures that included at least twelve works by his neighbor Samuel Cooper. This collection was sold in 1722 at Cross’s house in Covent Garden.

Cross’s style is distinguished by a fine stippling of colors that combine to create soft, voluminous hair and pale flesh tones. His later works tend

ProvenanceBy 1875 Possibly Anthony Ashley-Cooper,

7th Earl of Shaftesbury (1801–1885, Wimborne St. Giles, Dorset).

By 1889 Sir Francis Cook, 1st Baronet

(1817–1901, Richmond, England, and Sintra, Portugal); by inheritance to his son, Wyndham Francis Cook (1860–1905, London).

1901–5 Wyndham Francis Cook; by

inheritance to his wife, Frederica Evelyn Stillwell Cook (née Freeland, died 1925, London).

20Peter Cross (English, c. 1645–1724)Portrait of a Woman in Blue, c. 1700

Watercolor on vellumOval, 9.2 × 7.3 cm (3 ⅝ × 2 ⅞ in.) Signature: at right: PC [in monogram]Setting: original stained ivory frameThe Edward B. Greene Collection, 1941.554

1905–25 Frederica Evelyn Stillwell Cook; by

inheritance to her son, Humphrey Wyndham Cook (1893–1978).

1925 Humphrey Wyndham Cook. 1925–28 Purchased by Leo Schidlof

(1886–1966, Paris) at Christie’s (London) Cook sale for £47.50 on 9 July (lot 319).1

1928–41 Purchased by Edward B. Greene

(1878–1957, Cleveland) from Leo Schidlof for £100 ($500) on 6 September; gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 5 December 1941.


Cat. 20

109108

Living in London, the youngest of seven children, Peter Cross was probably apprenticed to a limner following the death of his wealthy father.2 His first miniatures date from around 1661, and he remained active until his death, ushering the medium into the eighteenth cen-tury; the greatest British miniaturists working during his lifetime—Samuel Cooper (cats. 15–17), John Hoskins (cats. 11–12), Nicholas Dixon (cat. 19), Thomas Flatman (1635–1688), Richard Gibson (cat. 14)—all had died or ceased to work by 1700. Although ivory had been adopted as a support for British miniature painting a decade before his death, Cross exclusively used the older medium of vellum adhered to card. The artist was also an avid collector, assembling an impressive group of miniatures that included at least twelve works by his neighbor Samuel Cooper. This collection was sold in 1722 at Cross’s house in Covent Garden.

Cross’s style is distinguished by a fine stippling of colors that combine to create soft, voluminous hair and pale flesh tones. His later works tend

ProvenanceBy 1875 Possibly Anthony Ashley-Cooper,

7th Earl of Shaftesbury (1801–1885, Wimborne St. Giles, Dorset).

By 1889 Sir Francis Cook, 1st Baronet

(1817–1901, Richmond, England, and Sintra, Portugal); by inheritance to his son, Wyndham Francis Cook (1860–1905, London).

1901–5 Wyndham Francis Cook; by

inheritance to his wife, Frederica Evelyn Stillwell Cook (née Freeland, died 1925, London).

20Peter Cross (English, c. 1645–1724)Portrait of a Woman in Blue, c. 1700

Watercolor on vellumOval, 9.2 × 7.3 cm (3 ⅝ × 2 ⅞ in.) Signature: at right: PC [in monogram]Setting: original stained ivory frameThe Edward B. Greene Collection, 1941.554

1905–25 Frederica Evelyn Stillwell Cook; by

inheritance to her son, Humphrey Wyndham Cook (1893–1978).

1925 Humphrey Wyndham Cook. 1925–28 Purchased by Leo Schidlof

(1886–1966, Paris) at Christie’s (London) Cook sale for £47.50 on 9 July (lot 319).1

1928–41 Purchased by Edward B. Greene

(1878–1957, Cleveland) from Leo Schidlof for £100 ($500) on 6 September; gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 5 December 1941.


Cat. 20

Documents

British Portrait Miniatures