British Portrait Miniatures

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In association with the Cleveland Museum of Art table of contents Director’s Foreword

Preface and Acknowledgments

Collecting British Miniatures at the Cleveland Museum of Art

Catalogue

Index of Artists

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British Portrait Miniatures from the Cleveland Museum of Art

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BRITISH PORTRAIT MINIATURES

Director’s Foreword

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 Foundation 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 Franklin

The Sarah S. and Alexander M. Cutler Director

Detail of cat. 7 (recto)

7

Director’s Foreword

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 Foundation 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 Franklin

The Sarah S. and Alexander M. Cutler Director

Detail of cat. 7 (recto)

7

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” while Cleveland’s Plain Dealer publicized Greene’s 11

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

22

Figure 3. From right to left, William

Figure 4. Gallery view of the 35th

Hollendonner, and John Mackenzie

Museum of Art, 20 June–23 September

Milliken, Henry Francis, Fred

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.

Anniversary Exhibition, the Cleveland

1951. The Cleveland Museum of Art

Archives, Records of the Photography Studio.

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

Collecting British Miniatures at the Cleveland Museum of Art

23

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” while Cleveland’s Plain Dealer publicized Greene’s 11

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

22

Figure 3. From right to left, William

Figure 4. Gallery view of the 35th

Hollendonner, and John Mackenzie

Museum of Art, 20 June–23 September

Milliken, Henry Francis, Fred

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.

Anniversary Exhibition, the Cleveland

1951. The Cleveland Museum of Art

Archives, Records of the Photography Studio.

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

Collecting British Miniatures at the Cleveland Museum of Art

23

3

Portrait of Sir Anthony Mildmay, Knight of Apethorpe, Northants, c. 1590–93 Watercolor on vellum mounted on card, mounted on wood Rectangular, 23.3 × 17.4 cm (9 ⅛ × 6 ¾ in.)

Signature: none

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1926.554

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

Provenance

c. 1590/93–1617

Elizabethan England. Hilliard executed the work in the years before of the Exchequer of England, Anthony Mildmay was a member of

Parliament and prominent courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, who granted

Mary, Countess of Westmoreland (née Mildmay, d. 1640).

1617–40

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.

ground for an English gentleman at this time. Hilliard’s prowess at

1640–81

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

in rendering fine details and brilliant colors, he did not apply the

elegant and wooden.

38

Henry Fane; by inheritance to his

1726–77

Henry Fane; by inheritance to his daughter Mary Stapleton (née

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

Plantagenet Stapleton (1834–1899, Grey’s Court, Oxfordshire).

1874–99

Richard Talbot Plantagenet

Stapleton; by inheritance to his

son Sir Miles Talbot Stapleton, 9th

Purchased by the Cleveland

Museum of Art from Durlacher

Brothers for $6,540 on 21 December.

The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Exhibitions 1939–40

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.

1983

Stapleton, 7th Bt.; by inheritance to his son Richard Talbot

(New York).

1926

Bt. (1727–1781, Grey’s Court, Oxford

Purchased by Durlacher Brothers

1926

wife of Sir Thomas Stapleton, 5th 1777–1835

at Christie’s (London) Stapleton

sale for 510 guineas on 11 May (lot 79).

Fane, c. 1744–1835, Oxfordshire), shire).

Purchased by S. J. Phillips (London)

1926

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

Victoria and Albert Museum,

London, Artists of the Tudor Court: The Portrait Miniature Rediscovered,

1520–1620, 9 July–6 November, no. 264.

1993

The Cleveland Museum of Art,

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

Bt. (1893–?, Grey’s Court,

tic. Instead, there is an awkward spatial relationship between the tent incongruent angles, while Mildmay’s figure simultaneously appears

his son Henry Fane (1669–1726,

1691–1726

single-point perspective that would have made this scene more naturalisand the furniture, which recedes into the steeply graded background at

Sir Francis Fane; by inheritance to Brympton, Yeovil, Somerset).

was not actively participating in the competition, which might last

and was equipped and ornamented accordingly. While Hilliard excelled

his son Sir Francis Fane (d. 1691,

1681–91

which a gentleman armed himself for the tournament, or rested when he many days. It was therefore a temporary representation of his household

Sir Francis Fane; by inheritance to Henbury, Gloucestershire).

illustrating textures is evident in the red velvet of the chair and pillow, the billowing feathers, the stiff canvas tent, and the gleaming silver

by inheritance to her son Sir Lincolnshire).

often measured under 2 inches high, this larger format allowed the artist also to station him within the context of the tournament—a vital proving

Mary, Countess of Westmoreland; Francis Fane (d. 1681, Fulbeck,

Unlike Hilliard’s traditional bust-length portrait miniatures, which

not only to lavish attention on the sitter’s dress and accoutrements but

Apethorpe, Northants (c. 1549–1617); by inheritance to his daughter

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

Sir Anthony Mildmay, Knight of

1926

Oxfordshire).

1899–?

Miles Talbot Stapleton, 9th Bt.

39

3

Portrait of Sir Anthony Mildmay, Knight of Apethorpe, Northants, c. 1590–93 Watercolor on vellum mounted on card, mounted on wood Rectangular, 23.3 × 17.4 cm (9 ⅛ × 6 ¾ in.)

Signature: none

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1926.554

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

Provenance

c. 1590/93–1617

Elizabethan England. Hilliard executed the work in the years before of the Exchequer of England, Anthony Mildmay was a member of

Parliament and prominent courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, who granted

Mary, Countess of Westmoreland (née Mildmay, d. 1640).

1617–40

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.

ground for an English gentleman at this time. Hilliard’s prowess at

1640–81

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

in rendering fine details and brilliant colors, he did not apply the

elegant and wooden.

38

Henry Fane; by inheritance to his

1726–77

Henry Fane; by inheritance to his daughter Mary Stapleton (née

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

Plantagenet Stapleton (1834–1899, Grey’s Court, Oxfordshire).

1874–99

Richard Talbot Plantagenet

Stapleton; by inheritance to his

son Sir Miles Talbot Stapleton, 9th

Purchased by the Cleveland

Museum of Art from Durlacher

Brothers for $6,540 on 21 December.

The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Exhibitions 1939–40

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.

1983

Stapleton, 7th Bt.; by inheritance to his son Richard Talbot

(New York).

1926

Bt. (1727–1781, Grey’s Court, Oxford

Purchased by Durlacher Brothers

1926

wife of Sir Thomas Stapleton, 5th 1777–1835

at Christie’s (London) Stapleton

sale for 510 guineas on 11 May (lot 79).

Fane, c. 1744–1835, Oxfordshire), shire).

Purchased by S. J. Phillips (London)

1926

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

Victoria and Albert Museum,

London, Artists of the Tudor Court: The Portrait Miniature Rediscovered,

1520–1620, 9 July–6 November, no. 264.

1993

The Cleveland Museum of Art,

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

Bt. (1893–?, Grey’s Court,

tic. Instead, there is an awkward spatial relationship between the tent incongruent angles, while Mildmay’s figure simultaneously appears

his son Henry Fane (1669–1726,

1691–1726

single-point perspective that would have made this scene more naturalisand the furniture, which recedes into the steeply graded background at

Sir Francis Fane; by inheritance to Brympton, Yeovil, Somerset).

was not actively participating in the competition, which might last

and was equipped and ornamented accordingly. While Hilliard excelled

his son Sir Francis Fane (d. 1691,

1681–91

which a gentleman armed himself for the tournament, or rested when he many days. It was therefore a temporary representation of his household

Sir Francis Fane; by inheritance to Henbury, Gloucestershire).

illustrating textures is evident in the red velvet of the chair and pillow, the billowing feathers, the stiff canvas tent, and the gleaming silver

by inheritance to her son Sir Lincolnshire).

often measured under 2 inches high, this larger format allowed the artist also to station him within the context of the tournament—a vital proving

Mary, Countess of Westmoreland; Francis Fane (d. 1681, Fulbeck,

Unlike Hilliard’s traditional bust-length portrait miniatures, which

not only to lavish attention on the sitter’s dress and accoutrements but

Apethorpe, Northants (c. 1549–1617); by inheritance to his daughter

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

Sir Anthony Mildmay, Knight of

1926

Oxfordshire).

1899–?

Miles Talbot Stapleton, 9th Bt.

39

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-

Figure 20. Head of Christ, c. 1615. Isaac

Figure 21. The Adoration of the Magi.

4.3 cm (2 × 1 ⅝ in.). Victoria and Albert

and brown ink, heightened with

Oliver I. Watercolor on vellum; 5.3 ×

Museum, London. Image © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Isaac Oliver I. Brown wash, with pen 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.

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

object 5 or coming out of a close relationship with an important client. For

a Huguenot painter in the English Protestant court to create such a prominent 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 reintroduce—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 58

Isaac Oliver I

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-

Figure 20. Head of Christ, c. 1615. Isaac

Figure 21. The Adoration of the Magi.

4.3 cm (2 × 1 ⅝ in.). Victoria and Albert

and brown ink, heightened with

Oliver I. Watercolor on vellum; 5.3 ×

Museum, London. Image © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Isaac Oliver I. Brown wash, with pen 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.

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

object 5 or coming out of a close relationship with an important client. For

a Huguenot painter in the English Protestant court to create such a prominent 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 reintroduce—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 58

Isaac Oliver I

59

13 Alexander Cooper (English, 1609–1658 or later)

While there are numerous related portraits of this sitter, the distinc-

tive feature of this miniature by Hoskins is the large, falling collar. Its elaborate, scalloped lace versions tied at the neck and seen in several

Portrait of Elizabeth Stuart, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia, c. 1630s

V with a simple collar, Hoskins may have been departing from the

Watercolor on vellum

ultimately less emulated variant.

Signature: none

plain white linen, broad and simple, was distinguished from the

otherwise closely related portraits (figs. 32, 33). In representing Frederick transcription of a more elaborate portrait, creating a simpler and

Oval, 3.2 × 2.8 cm (1 ½ × 1 in.)

A similar portrait by Alexander Cooper (cat. 13) of Frederick V at

Setting: original blue, white, and black enamel locket with gold;

approximately the same date belongs to the Duke of Buccleuch (fig. 32).4

enamel mount

Bequest of Muriel Butkin, 2008.292

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

Younger brother of the renowned miniaturist Samuel Cooper (cats. 15–17),

from the Cleveland version primarily in terms of costume and is one of

Alexander also received training in miniature painting at an early age,

many representations of Frederick V’s family painted by Hoskins and by

first with his uncle John Hoskins (cats. 11–12) and then with Peter Oliver

Cooper and his brother Samuel (cats. 15–17).5 The Cleveland Museum of Art

(c. 1594–1647).2 Alexander spent much of his career abroad, first visiting

also owns a miniature by Alexander Cooper of Frederick’s wife, Elizabeth

the Hague between 1631 and 1633, then returning to England for some

Stuart (cat. 13).

years, before living again in the Hague from 1644–46 and in Stockholm

Related miniatures of Frederick V were reproduced in a variety of sizes

perspicacity, innovative compositions, and fluid brushwork of his brother

Buccleuch miniature (fig. 33).

finish and their austerity. His works are not well known partly because

Schidlof stated that this miniature was

among the items sold in the Christie’s,

Samuel. Instead, Alexander’s works are celebrated for their delicacy of many of his productive years were spent in Holland and Sweden, and

September 1948 and 10 October 1948, as

none of his miniatures conclusively represent work executed in England.

4 Stephen Lloyd, Portrait Miniatures from the

falls loosely to her sloping shoulders, with the top-most portion drawn

Collection of the Duke of Buccleuch (Edinburgh:

1926.

79, no. 31.

large drop pearl earrings, and a black gown with a plunging neckline

Bohemia, by Alexander Cooper is in the

jeweled brooch. The figure is set against a plain, brownish-gold back-

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

into a bun encircled with pearls. She wears a translucent pearl choker,

Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1996), p.

5

trimmed in white and ornamented in the center with a floriated gold,

Another portrait of Frederick V, King of

Royal Collection, measuring 1.2 by 1

ground. The unsigned miniature is set in an enamel mount in the small

centimeters (½ by ⅜ inches) and dated

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.

The Norton Gallery (New York);

by 1975

Elizabeth Stuart appears bust length, facing left. Her dark brown hair

documented in the CMA curatorial file.

London, Brownlow sale of May 1923 or the

Sotheby’s, London, Brownlow sale of April

from 1647–54. Alexander Cooper’s miniatures lack the psychological

Victoria and Albert Museum, which corresponds closely to Cooper’s

in the Brownlow collection, but it was not

1924

3

and materials, including an enamel variant by an unknown artist in the

1

Provenance

purchased by Noah L. Butkin

(1918–1980, Shaker Heights, OH)

from the Norton Gallery for $1,500

1980–2008

Muriel Butkin; upon her death, held in trust by the estate.

2008

The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Exhibitions None.

Bibliography

Korkow, 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.

on 10 February 1975.

1975–80

Noah L. Butkin; by inheritance to

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

locket format typical of the period. The ground is cerulean, with the

around 1632 (RCIN 422346). Graham

sitter’s monogram—ES—surmounted by a crown in white and gold.

Reynolds, The Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century

The Butkins purchased the portrait believing it to be Queen Christina of

Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen (London: Royal Collection, 1999), p. 150.

Sweden, who employed Cooper between 1647 and 1654. Instead, it depicts

Elizabeth Stuart, Electress Palatine, and Queen of Bohemia (1596–1662), for Figure 32. Portrait of Frederick V, King of

Figure 33. Portrait of Frederick V, King of

whom Cooper painted a remarkable series of portraits in 1632 and 1633.

Alexander Cooper (British, 1609–1658

Unknown artist. Enamel on metal;

married Frederick V, Elector Palatine (cat. 12), in 1613 and was the queen of

Bohemia and Elector Palatine , c. 1630. 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.

Bohemia and Elector Palatine, early 1600s.

4.3 × 3.4 cm (1 ⅝ × 1 ⅜ in.). Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Image ©

Elizabeth was the daughter of King James I and sister of King Charles I. She Bohemia briefly from 1619 until their exile to the Hague in 1621.

Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Cat. 13

78

Alexander Cooper

79

13 Alexander Cooper (English, 1609–1658 or later)

While there are numerous related portraits of this sitter, the distinc-

tive feature of this miniature by Hoskins is the large, falling collar. Its elaborate, scalloped lace versions tied at the neck and seen in several

Portrait of Elizabeth Stuart, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia, c. 1630s

V with a simple collar, Hoskins may have been departing from the

Watercolor on vellum

ultimately less emulated variant.

Signature: none

plain white linen, broad and simple, was distinguished from the

otherwise closely related portraits (figs. 32, 33). In representing Frederick transcription of a more elaborate portrait, creating a simpler and

Oval, 3.2 × 2.8 cm (1 ½ × 1 in.)

A similar portrait by Alexander Cooper (cat. 13) of Frederick V at

Setting: original blue, white, and black enamel locket with gold;

approximately the same date belongs to the Duke of Buccleuch (fig. 32).4

enamel mount

Bequest of Muriel Butkin, 2008.292

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

Younger brother of the renowned miniaturist Samuel Cooper (cats. 15–17),

from the Cleveland version primarily in terms of costume and is one of

Alexander also received training in miniature painting at an early age,

many representations of Frederick V’s family painted by Hoskins and by

first with his uncle John Hoskins (cats. 11–12) and then with Peter Oliver

Cooper and his brother Samuel (cats. 15–17).5 The Cleveland Museum of Art

(c. 1594–1647).2 Alexander spent much of his career abroad, first visiting

also owns a miniature by Alexander Cooper of Frederick’s wife, Elizabeth

the Hague between 1631 and 1633, then returning to England for some

Stuart (cat. 13).

years, before living again in the Hague from 1644–46 and in Stockholm

Related miniatures of Frederick V were reproduced in a variety of sizes

perspicacity, innovative compositions, and fluid brushwork of his brother

Buccleuch miniature (fig. 33).

finish and their austerity. His works are not well known partly because

Schidlof stated that this miniature was

among the items sold in the Christie’s,

Samuel. Instead, Alexander’s works are celebrated for their delicacy of many of his productive years were spent in Holland and Sweden, and

September 1948 and 10 October 1948, as

none of his miniatures conclusively represent work executed in England.

4 Stephen Lloyd, Portrait Miniatures from the

falls loosely to her sloping shoulders, with the top-most portion drawn

Collection of the Duke of Buccleuch (Edinburgh:

1926.

79, no. 31.

large drop pearl earrings, and a black gown with a plunging neckline

Bohemia, by Alexander Cooper is in the

jeweled brooch. The figure is set against a plain, brownish-gold back-

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

into a bun encircled with pearls. She wears a translucent pearl choker,

Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1996), p.

5

trimmed in white and ornamented in the center with a floriated gold,

Another portrait of Frederick V, King of

Royal Collection, measuring 1.2 by 1

ground. The unsigned miniature is set in an enamel mount in the small

centimeters (½ by ⅜ inches) and dated

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.

The Norton Gallery (New York);

by 1975

Elizabeth Stuart appears bust length, facing left. Her dark brown hair

documented in the CMA curatorial file.

London, Brownlow sale of May 1923 or the

Sotheby’s, London, Brownlow sale of April

from 1647–54. Alexander Cooper’s miniatures lack the psychological

Victoria and Albert Museum, which corresponds closely to Cooper’s

in the Brownlow collection, but it was not

1924

3

and materials, including an enamel variant by an unknown artist in the

1

Provenance

purchased by Noah L. Butkin

(1918–1980, Shaker Heights, OH)

from the Norton Gallery for $1,500

1980–2008

Muriel Butkin; upon her death, held in trust by the estate.

2008

The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Exhibitions None.

Bibliography

Korkow, 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.

on 10 February 1975.

1975–80

Noah L. Butkin; by inheritance to

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

locket format typical of the period. The ground is cerulean, with the

around 1632 (RCIN 422346). Graham

sitter’s monogram—ES—surmounted by a crown in white and gold.

Reynolds, The Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century

The Butkins purchased the portrait believing it to be Queen Christina of

Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen (London: Royal Collection, 1999), p. 150.

Sweden, who employed Cooper between 1647 and 1654. Instead, it depicts

Elizabeth Stuart, Electress Palatine, and Queen of Bohemia (1596–1662), for Figure 32. Portrait of Frederick V, King of

Figure 33. Portrait of Frederick V, King of

whom Cooper painted a remarkable series of portraits in 1632 and 1633.

Alexander Cooper (British, 1609–1658

Unknown artist. Enamel on metal;

married Frederick V, Elector Palatine (cat. 12), in 1613 and was the queen of

Bohemia and Elector Palatine , c. 1630. 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.

Bohemia and Elector Palatine, early 1600s.

4.3 × 3.4 cm (1 ⅝ × 1 ⅜ in.). Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Image ©

Elizabeth was the daughter of King James I and sister of King Charles I. She Bohemia briefly from 1619 until their exile to the Hague in 1621.

Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Cat. 13

78

Alexander Cooper

79

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

Oval, 9.2 × 7.3 cm (3 ⅝ × 2 ⅞ in.)

Signature: at right: PC [in monogram]

Setting: original stained ivory frame

The Edward B. Greene Collection, 1941.554

Living in London, the youngest of seven children, Peter Cross was

probably apprenticed to a limner following the death of his wealthy

father. His first miniatures date from around 1661, and he remained 2

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

Provenance By 1875

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

7th Earl of Shaftesbury (1801–1885,

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

1925

Sir Francis Cook, 1st Baronet

1925–28

(1817–1901, Richmond, England, and Sintra, Portugal); by

Humphrey Wyndham Cook.

Purchased by Leo Schidlof

Francis Cook (1860–1905, London).

1901–5

Wyndham Francis Cook; by

inheritance to his wife, Frederica

(1886–1966, Paris) at Christie’s

(London) Cook sale for £47.50 on 9

inheritance to his son, Wyndham

Frederica Evelyn Stillwell Cook; by

Wimborne St. Giles, Dorset).

By 1889

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

Possibly Anthony Ashley-Cooper,

1905–25

July (lot 319).1

1928–41

Evelyn Stillwell Cook (née

Purchased by Edward B. Greene (1878–1957, Cleveland) from Leo Schidlof for £100 ($500) on 6

Freeland, died 1925, London).

September; gift to the Cleveland

Museum of Art, 5 December 1941.

1941

The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Cat. 20

108

109

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

Oval, 9.2 × 7.3 cm (3 ⅝ × 2 ⅞ in.)

Signature: at right: PC [in monogram]

Setting: original stained ivory frame

The Edward B. Greene Collection, 1941.554

Living in London, the youngest of seven children, Peter Cross was

probably apprenticed to a limner following the death of his wealthy

father. His first miniatures date from around 1661, and he remained 2

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

Provenance By 1875

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

7th Earl of Shaftesbury (1801–1885,

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

1925

Sir Francis Cook, 1st Baronet

1925–28

(1817–1901, Richmond, England, and Sintra, Portugal); by

Humphrey Wyndham Cook.

Purchased by Leo Schidlof

Francis Cook (1860–1905, London).

1901–5

Wyndham Francis Cook; by

inheritance to his wife, Frederica

(1886–1966, Paris) at Christie’s

(London) Cook sale for £47.50 on 9

inheritance to his son, Wyndham

Frederica Evelyn Stillwell Cook; by

Wimborne St. Giles, Dorset).

By 1889

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

Possibly Anthony Ashley-Cooper,

1905–25

July (lot 319).1

1928–41

Evelyn Stillwell Cook (née

Purchased by Edward B. Greene (1878–1957, Cleveland) from Leo Schidlof for £100 ($500) on 6

Freeland, died 1925, London).

September; gift to the Cleveland

Museum of Art, 5 December 1941.

1941

The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Cat. 20

108

109