Unknown Woman, perhaps Elizabeth Capell, Countess of Carnarvon
Portrait Miniature
1653-1657 (painted)
1653-1657 (painted)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Object Type
Miniature painting is defined as watercolour on a vellum (fine animal skin) support . Most miniaturists learnt the techniques from another miniaturist. Gibson's technique however reveals a different training. Gibson was a page to the Lord Chamberlain, Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, and through him became a page in the Royal Household. Here Gibson met the oil painter Peter Lely (1618-1680) and was probably influenced by his technique. Unlike the other miniaturists, whose brushwork was very smooth, Gibson used a distinctive dragged impasto (thickly laid paint).
People
Gibson's work is sometimes lacking in individuality, but this image is very like other known portraits of Elizabeth Capell. It dates from 1653-1657, the period following Elizabeth's marriage to Charles Dormer, 2nd Earl of Carnarvon. He was grandson of Lord Pembroke, Gibson's longstanding patron.
Artist
For years it was thought there were two artists, one signing 'DG' and one signing 'RG'. It is now clear that the 'D' stands for 'Dick', or possibly 'Dwarf' (Gibson was only just over a metre tall). Gibson's position at the court of Charles I was as page not miniature painter and during the Commonwealth period he remained under the care of the Earl of Pembroke's nephew. But at the Restoration Gibson set up independently as a miniaturist in London. He then signed more confidently 'RG'.
Miniature painting is defined as watercolour on a vellum (fine animal skin) support . Most miniaturists learnt the techniques from another miniaturist. Gibson's technique however reveals a different training. Gibson was a page to the Lord Chamberlain, Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, and through him became a page in the Royal Household. Here Gibson met the oil painter Peter Lely (1618-1680) and was probably influenced by his technique. Unlike the other miniaturists, whose brushwork was very smooth, Gibson used a distinctive dragged impasto (thickly laid paint).
People
Gibson's work is sometimes lacking in individuality, but this image is very like other known portraits of Elizabeth Capell. It dates from 1653-1657, the period following Elizabeth's marriage to Charles Dormer, 2nd Earl of Carnarvon. He was grandson of Lord Pembroke, Gibson's longstanding patron.
Artist
For years it was thought there were two artists, one signing 'DG' and one signing 'RG'. It is now clear that the 'D' stands for 'Dick', or possibly 'Dwarf' (Gibson was only just over a metre tall). Gibson's position at the court of Charles I was as page not miniature painter and during the Commonwealth period he remained under the care of the Earl of Pembroke's nephew. But at the Restoration Gibson set up independently as a miniaturist in London. He then signed more confidently 'RG'.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Unknown Woman, perhaps Elizabeth Capell, Countess of Carnarvon (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Watercolour on vellum put down on pasteboard |
| Brief description | Portrait miniature of a woman, perhaps Elizabeth Capell, Countess of Carnarvon, watercolour on vellum, painted by Richard Gibson, 1653-1657. |
| Physical description | Portrait, oval frame, the sitter turned to front and wearing a pearl necklace. Features in brown and sanguine, impasted and blended in long diagonal strokes with white, hatched and shadowed with blue, on a pale carnation ground; hair in transparent pale brown wash over the carnation with broad, dark brown gummy hatching and some gouache lights; dress in opaque blue washes lightened with white; chemise in white shaded with blue-grey; jewellery in opaque ochre, with black and white; background a yellow wash, hatched and stippled in ochre and brown, darkening in lower parts and to the right; on vellum put down on pasteboard. Frame: Seventeenth-century turned oval of ebonised fruitwood; a complex bolection moulding with additional grooves on the inner and outer ring; a slightly convex glass fitted to a rebate and the back closed with an oak backboard. The latter inscribed in ink: 1714 / Henry Portman / [illegible]. |
| Dimensions |
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| Content description | Oval portrait miniature of a woman wearing a pearl necklace. |
| Styles | |
| Marks and inscriptions | 'DG' (Signed, lower centre left, in black ) |
| Gallery label | British Galleries:
Richard Gibson had been a page to Charles I, and was known as Dwarf Gibson on account of his small size. During the Commonwealth he worked among a close circle of aristocratic families. Elizabeth Capell (1633-1678), was the wife of Gibson's principal patron during the 1650s, Charles Dormer, 2nd Earl of Carnarvon (1632-1709).(27/03/2003) |
| Object history | Provenance: Anonymous vendor, Christie's 11 May 1926, lot 114 (as by ‘David de Grange'), bt Agnew on behalf of the Museum. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Object Type Miniature painting is defined as watercolour on a vellum (fine animal skin) support . Most miniaturists learnt the techniques from another miniaturist. Gibson's technique however reveals a different training. Gibson was a page to the Lord Chamberlain, Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, and through him became a page in the Royal Household. Here Gibson met the oil painter Peter Lely (1618-1680) and was probably influenced by his technique. Unlike the other miniaturists, whose brushwork was very smooth, Gibson used a distinctive dragged impasto (thickly laid paint). People Gibson's work is sometimes lacking in individuality, but this image is very like other known portraits of Elizabeth Capell. It dates from 1653-1657, the period following Elizabeth's marriage to Charles Dormer, 2nd Earl of Carnarvon. He was grandson of Lord Pembroke, Gibson's longstanding patron. Artist For years it was thought there were two artists, one signing 'DG' and one signing 'RG'. It is now clear that the 'D' stands for 'Dick', or possibly 'Dwarf' (Gibson was only just over a metre tall). Gibson's position at the court of Charles I was as page not miniature painter and during the Commonwealth period he remained under the care of the Earl of Pembroke's nephew. But at the Restoration Gibson set up independently as a miniaturist in London. He then signed more confidently 'RG'. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | P.15-1926 |
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| Record created | December 15, 1999 |
| Record URL |
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