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Portrait miniature - An Unknown Man, aged 24
  • An Unknown Man, aged 24
    Hilliard, Nicholas, born 1542 - died 1619
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An Unknown Man, aged 24

  • Object:

    Portrait miniature

  • Place of origin:

    England, Great Britain (painted)

  • Date:

    1572 (painted)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Hilliard, Nicholas, born 1542 - died 1619 (artist)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Watercolour on vellum stuck to a playing card

  • Credit Line:

    Presented by The Art Fund

  • Museum number:

    P.1-1942

  • Gallery location:

    Portrait Miniatures, room 90a

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This portrait of an unknown man is one of a pair; the portrait of his wife is still in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch. The pictures are unusual, both in terms of traditional miniatures and Hilliard’s own work, as they are rectangular in shape and were formerly set into a diptych-style frame. This unusual format was probably the innovation of Hilliard, who was still experimenting with the miniature format at this early stage in his career. He has, however, retained the traditional way of inscribing miniatures, citing the date as ‘Ano Dni 1576’ (an abbreviation for Anno Domini, ‘in the year of our Lord’) and the age of the sitter as ‘Aetatis Sue XXIIII’ (aged 24). The face here has been retouched; the original skin tone would have been more pale.

Physical description

Portrait of a man, half-length, turned slightly to right, eyes to front, and wearing a black cap with a feather, a ruff and a pendant on a ribbon round his neck; inscriptions in gold on either side on a blue background. The vellum on which the portrait is painted is stuck onto a playing card, on the back of which is the three of hearts.

Place of Origin

England, Great Britain (painted)

Date

1572 (painted)

Artist/maker

Hilliard, Nicholas, born 1542 - died 1619 (artist)

Materials and Techniques

Watercolour on vellum stuck to a playing card

Marks and inscriptions

'AEtatis sue. XXIIII / Ano., 1572.'

Dimensions

Height: 60 mm, Width: 48 mm

Object history note

Provenance: Part of the collection formed by Walter Francis, 5th Duke of Buccleuch (1806-84); first recorded in 1864; purchased and presented by the N.A.C.F. 1942

Descriptive line

Portrait miniature of an unknown man, aged 24, watercolour on vellum, painted by Nicholas Hilliard, 1572.

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

Strong, Roy. Artists of the Tudor Court: the Portrait Miniature Rediscovered 1520-1620.. London: The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983.
Cat. 58, Pp. 62-63. Full Citation:

“NICHOLAS HILLIARD

58 Unknown man aged 24, 1572

Victoria & Albert Museum (P.1-1942)
Vellum stuck to a playing card with three hearts on reverse, rectangular, 60 x 48 mm, 2 3/8 x 1 7/8 in.

One of a pair of miniature of husband and wife, the latter being still in the Buccleuch collection (no. 59). This one of the husband has been extensively restored, especially on the face and ruff. Nonetheless it and its companion are rare instances in Hilliard’s work or rectangular miniatures. Reynolds’ (Miniatures, 1952, p. 18) points out the influence of Mor, and Pope-Hennessy that of Clouet and French court portraiture (Lecture, 1949, pp. 17-18) but the portrait formula could equally have been derived from Hans Eworth who was still working in the 1570s (Strong, The English Icon, pp. 92 (31’, 94 (34) and no. 54). The format must have been dictated by the client, presumably to create some form of diptych, oval and circular miniatures lending themselves more readily to setting in lockets of ivory boxes. The liveliness of characterization suggests familiarity already with French portrait drawings by Clouet. The form of “s” in the inscription of this and no. 59 is not repeated.

In 1864 the miniature was unattributed but identified as James Stuart, 1st Earl of Moray, and identification that cannot be sustained because of the age of the sitter.

INSCRIBED: On either side of the head: AEtatis sue. XXIIII / Ano., 1572.

COLLECTIONS: Part of the collection formed by Walter Francis, 5th Duke of Buccleuch (1806-84); first recorded in 1864; purchased and presented by the N.A.C.F. 1942

LITERATURE: L. Caldesi & Co. and Amelia B. Edwards, Photographic Historical Portrait Gallery, London, 1864, pl. XLVII (1).
Kennedy, Buccleuch, pl. XII.
Winter, Elizabethan Miniatures, pl. II (b).
V&A, 1947 (8).
Pope-Hennessy, Lecture, 1949, p. 18, pl. VIII, IX.
Auerbach, Hilliard, pp. 61-2, pl. 7; 289 (15).
G. Reynolds, Apollo, LXXIX, 1964, p. 283, pl. 8.
Strong, Hilliardm pl. 2 (b).”

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:

HILLIARD, Nicholas (1547-1619)

Miniature portrait of a man aged 24 in 1572.
Inscribed Ætatis Sue XXIIII. Ano. Dm. 1572.
On parchment on card. Rectangular.
P.1-1942

Given by the National Art-Collections Fund

Note: This miniature was formerly in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch. It was No. 8 in the Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1947.'

Exhibition History

Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver (Victoria and Albert Museum 01/01/1947-31/12/1947)
Artists of the Tudor Court: the portrait miniature rediscovered, 1520-1620 (Victoria and Albert Museum 09/07/1983-06/11/19833)

Materials

Watercolour; Vellum

Techniques

Painting

Subjects depicted

Man; Hat; Pendant; Ruff

Categories

Portraits; Paintings

Collection code

PDP

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Qr_O16581
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