James Stuart, 4th Duke of Lennox and 1st Duke of Richmond

Physical description

Portrait, bust, to left and looking to front; wearing a high collar and hair long. Features hatched in brown with some black in the eyes, on a thick, pale carnation ground extending under the hair; collar in white over a pale grey wash; costume in gouache washed and hatched, and heightened with white and gold; a gold marginal strip; on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book.
Frame: A gold dress-pin, the glass held in a bezel; altered and filed down.

Place of Origin

England, Great Britain (painted)

Date

ca.1635 (painted)

Artist/maker

Hoskins, John (I), born 1585 - died 1665 (artist)

Materials and Techniques

Watercolour on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book.

Dimensions

Height: 32 mm, Width: 26 mm

Object history note

Provenance: British Museum, on loan to the V&A from 1934 and formally transferred, 1941.

Descriptive line

Portrait miniature of James Stuart, 4th Duke of Lennox and 1st Duke of Richmond, watercolour on vellum, painted by John Hoskins, ca.1635.

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Murdoch, John. Seventeenth-century English Miniatures in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: The Stationery Office, 1997.
Cat.34, p.68. Full Citation:
"34 James Stuart, 4th Duke of Lennox and 1st Duke of Richmond
(b.1612 d.1655)
c.1635
P24-1942

Oval 32 x 26 mm
Features hatched in brown with some black in the eyes, on a thick, pale carnation ground extending under the hair; collar in white over a pale grey wash; costume in gouache washed and hatched, and heightened with white and gold; a gold marginal strip; on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book.

Condition: Severely faded, especially in the flesh; the background darkened and the pigments loosened by water damage.
Signed: Not signed.
Frame: A gold dress-pin, the glass held in a bezel; altered and filed down.
Provenance: British Museum, on loan to the V&A from 1934 and formally transferred, 1941. Literature: Summary Catalogue, 1981, p. 31.

This miniature is a reduced replica of the portrait otherwise known in two conventional miniature versions:
1 At Windsor, tentatively attributed by Cust to Des Granges, (1) and by Lord Ronald Gower to Alexander Cooper. (2) This version seems to be heavily overpainted.
2 Formerly in the collection of Lord Cobham. (3)

Despite its minute size and the consequent difficulty of distinguishing the hand, the miniature was confidently attributed to Hoskins on grounds of style before its connection with the Windsor and (especially) the signed Cobham versions was recognised by Graham Reynolds in 1950.(4) Both of these are much finer than this miniature which should probably be regarded as part of the Hoskins workshop production of the mid-1630s.
The dukedom of Richmond is complicated at this date, and references to it often are confused. Briefly, James Stuart was himself created Duke of Richmond on 8 August 1641; this creation in effect revived the dukedom in the family after its extinction on the death of James Stuart's uncle, Ludovic Stuart (created Duke of Richmond 17 May 1623). Ludovic Stuart and his younger brother Esmé (the latter was James Stuart's father) were, respectively, the 2nd and 3rd Dukes of Lennox, being sons of Esmé Stuart, 6th Seigneur d' Aubigny, who was created Duke of Lennox, 5 August 1581.

1 Cust 1910, p.18, no.129.
2 MS note on photograph in NPG.
3 Signed; sold Sotheby's 19 October 1950, lot 28. 4 MS note in department file."
Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1942, London: HMSO, 1955.
The full text of the record is as follows:

HOSKINS, John (d.1665), Attributed to

Miniature portrait of a man wearing the Garter Ribbon.
On parchment on card. Oval.
P.24-1942

Transferred from the British Museum'

Materials

Watercolour; Vellum

Techniques

Painting

Subjects depicted

Duke; Stuart, James (4th Duke of Lennox and 1st Duke of Richmond)

Categories

Portraits; Paintings

Collection code

PDP