English Painters, with a Chapter on American Painters. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton
From a Miniature in Windsor Castle."/> Sir Philip Sidney at Penshurst. By ISAAC OLIVER. From a Miniature in Windsor Castle.
The miniatures of ISAAC OLIVER (1556—1617) are considered by some critics to rival those of Holbein. Both Isaac and his son PETER OLIVER (1601—1660) painted in the reign of James I., who, if not a great patron of Art, yet encouraged foreign portrait painters to work in England. Most famous among these were DANIEL MYTENS, PAUL VAN SOMER, and CORNELIS JONSON. Van Somer, a Fleming, is specially noted for his fidelity, Mytens for the spirit and dignity of his likenesses and his landscape backgrounds, and Jonson for the accuracy of his portraits. JEAN PETITOT (1607—1691), of Geneva, also came to England and painted portraits in enamel for Charles I. But native art was not altogether unrepresented. Nicholas Stone, the sculptor, flourished; and John Hoskins, who died in 1664, was celebrated as a miniature painter. The special art of miniature painting was at this time lucrative to its professors, as it was the fashion to wear pictures of friends, set in gold and precious stones. There were symptoms of a growing taste for art in England, and men were learning that it was possible to paint a good picture without living on the Continent.
The first Englishman of high degree who collected works of art in the manner to which we apply the phrase, was the Earl of Arundel, who was followed by Prince Henry, son of James I. The accession of Charles I. marks a new and bright period in the history of English painting. Walpole, in his "Anecdotes of Painting," speaking of Charles I., says, not very accurately, "The accession of this Prince was the first era of real taste in England. As his temper was not profuse, the money he expended on his collections, and the rewards he bestowed on men of true genius, are proofs of his judgment. He knew how and where to bestow." The King was not only a patron of art, but an artist. We are told by Gilpin that Charles "had singular skill in limning, and was a good judge of pictures." Another authority states that he often amused himself by drawing and designing. Charles inherited pictures which had been collected by Henry VIII. and Prince Henry, all of which were scattered in the different royal palaces. To these works, one hundred and fifty in all, the King added a vast number of valuable examples. The manuscript catalogue, left incomplete by Vanderdoort, the keeper of the royal galleries, mentions 497 pictures at Whitehall, including 28 by Titian, 9 by Raphael, 11 by Correggio, 11 by Holbein, 16 by Giulio Romano, 7 by Parmigiano, 7 by Rubens, 7 by Tintoretto, 3 by Rembrandt, 16 by Van Dyck, 4 by Paolo Veronese, and 2 by Leonardo da Vinci.[F] Charles bought, in 1627, the collection of paintings belonging to the Duke of Mantua for £18,280 12s. 8d.; and many foreign courts made presents of rare and valuable pictures to the King of England. The good example of their master was followed by some of the nobility, and the Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Somerset, the Earl of Pembroke, and the Earl of Arundel were liberal patrons of art. The last made a noble collection of statues and drawings; some of the latter are in the British Museum; many of the sculptures are at Oxford. Charles vainly invited Albani to visit England, but in 1629 RUBENS arrived as a confidential diplomatic representative of the Archduchess Isabella, Infanta of Spain, and was induced to remain for about nine months. The King delighted to honour the great painter, and made him a knight. During his stay in England, Rubens, among other works, painted his allegoric picture of Peace and War (National Gallery); St. George (Buckingham Palace); the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, for the Earl of Arundel; and the designs for the ceiling of Whitehall. The influence from this brief sojourn was very marked, and it was followed by that of—
ANTHONY VAN DYCK (1599—1641), a native of Antwerp, after a brief and unsatisfactory visit to England, returned here and was created Court Painter in 1632. Charles I. knighted him in 1632. His influence affected the portrait painters who lived a century after him, and survived till the advent of Reynolds. The best of Van Dyck's pictures are in the possession of the Crown and private collectors in England. There is one famous Portrait of Charles I. in the Louvre, and another in the Hermitage at St. Petersburg. The Three Children of Charles I. is among his pictures in Windsor Castle. In the National Gallery the best specimen of Van Dyck's art is the Emperor Theodosius and St. Ambrose, No. 50. The Gevartius, No. 52, is probably by Rubens. There are magnificent portraits by Van Dyck in many private galleries.
Gerard van Honthorst (1590—1656), a native of Utrecht, passed some years in England, painting portraits for Charles I. and his courtiers, and giving lessons to his daughter Elizabeth, afterwards Queen of Bohemia.
WILLIAM DOBSON (1610—1646), a dwarf, was apprenticed to Sir Robert Peake, an obscure painter and picture dealer, and learnt to copy Van Dyck so accurately, that he attracted the notice of the great master, who introduced him to the King. He became, after his patron's death, Serjeant-Painter, and Groom of the Privy Chamber. His career, like himself, was brief. When the Civil War broke out, Dobson was a prisoner for debt, and he died three years before the execution of his royal master. His portraits are often mistaken for those of Van Dyck. At Hampton Court is a fine picture of the painter himself with his wife. The Beheading of St. John the Baptist, which resembles a Honthorst, is at Wilton House; and a portrait of Cleveland, the poet, is in the Ellesmere collection. Several of Dobson's portraits have been exhibited in the National Portrait Exhibition, and in the collections of works by the "Old Masters" at Burlington House.
GEORGE JAMESONE (1586—1644), the son of an Aberdeen architect, is styled by Cunningham "the Scottish Van Dyck." He studied abroad under Rubens, in the company of Van Dyck, and in 1628 commenced a prosperous career in Scotland. He painted the portrait of Charles I., in 1633, when the King visited that country. Jamesone also painted historic pictures, landscapes, and subjects from the Bible. During the contest of the King with his Parliament, the arts could not but languish. Some of the great collectors fled to the Continent, where more than one of them existed by the sale of portable works of art, such as medals. The Parliament ordered the furniture of the royal palaces and the contents of the picture galleries to be sold by auction, and the proceeds to be applied to the expenses of the war in Ireland and the North. By an order of the House of Commons, 1645, all such pictures and statues at York House as bore the image of the Virgin Mary were to be forthwith destroyed as gendering superstition. Although art, as represented in England at this time, had been devoted to any but religious purposes—and many of its manifestations were grossly indecent and infamous, or, at best, shocking to unaccustomed eyes—these orders were not obeyed universally. Many pictures were bought by foreign princes, some by Cavaliers, others by the Puritans, among whom Colonel Hutchinson was an extensive purchaser. Cromwell, on becoming Protector, stopped all the sales of royal paintings and property. To him we owe the preservation of Raphael's cartoons. They were valued by the Commissioners at £300 and ordered to be sold, but Cromwell stopped the sale. In the reign of Charles II., these cartoons would have been lost to England; the King had offered to sell them to Barillon, minister of Louis XIV., and it was only by Lord Danby's means that the sale was prevented. Cromwell employed as his portrait painter—
ROBERT WALKER, who died in 1658. The Protector insisted upon having the warts and pimples on his face faithfully portrayed, and gave strict injunctions both to Walker and Sir Peter Lely not to flatter him. One of Walker's portraits of Cromwell is at Warwick Castle. Some capital examples of his skill are in the National Portrait Gallery. The Restoration was not favourable to design. Charles II. had neither taste for art, nor money to encourage painters. The unbridled license of the Court defiled the studio as it did the stage; and the most popular pictures were the portraits of the rakes and wantons who clustered round the King.
Sir PETER LELY (1618—1680), originally named Van