Object Type
This miniature was a rare experiment by Hilliard of a full-length miniature on a minute scale. Hilliard was attempting to challenge his former pupil and rival Isaac Oliver. Unfortunately, it reveals Hilliard's ignorance of Renaissance laws of perspective since the lines of the table and window go impossibly in opposite directions to and from the vanishing point. Hilliard seems as uncomfortable with this format as Hatton does, the whole effect being unfortunately cramped and squat. It was clearly an unsuccessful format and was quickly abandoned.
People
Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord Chancellor, rose rapidly in the Queen's favour, having first been Captain of the Guard in 1572. In this miniature he is shown wearing his robes of state and, as a Knight of the Order of the Garter, both its collar and on his left leg the garter itself. His ceremonial mace and seal bag are on the table to his right.
Ownership & Use
The dog at Hatton's feet was probably intended as a symbol of loyalty and it is possible that this miniature was intended for the Queen. Hatton in his youth was famed for his good looks and was one of the Queen's favourites. In old age she remained as devoted to her servant as he was to her.
Physical description
Portrait miniature in an oval frame of a man standing, depicted full-length; at the top of the frame are two loops and a flower. The backing card has four clubs printed on it.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (painted)
Date
1588-1591 (painted)
Artist/maker
Hilliard, Nicholas, born 1542 - died 1619 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
Watercolour on vellum stuck to a playing card
Dimensions
Height: 8.5 cm framed, Width: 5.5 cm framed, Height: 5.6 cm sight, Width: 4.4 cm sight
Descriptive line
Portrait miniature of Sir Christopher Hatton, watercolour on vellum, painted by Nicholas Hilliard, 1588-1591.
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. 89, pp. 78-79. Full Citation:
“NICHOLAS HILLIARD
89 Sir Christopher Hatton, 1588-91
Victoria & Albert Museum (p.138-1910)
Vellum stuck to a playing card with four clubs showing at the reverse, oval, 56 x 43 mm, 2 3/16 x 1 11/16 in.
Sir Christopher Hatton (1540-91), Lord Chancellor, rose rapidly in the Queen’s favour, became Captain of the Guard, 1572, vice-Chamberlain, 1578, High Steward of Cambridge University, 1588, and Lord Chancellor, 1587-91.
Hilliard’s miniature of Hatton must have been painted between 1588, the year he was made K. G., the collar which he wears, and his death. He wears the robes of Lord Chancellor which he became in 1587 and on the table to the left is the Chancellor’s mace and seal bag. Hatton was famed for his good looks and Naunton refers to him as being “tall and proportionable” (Fragmenta Regalia, 1808 ed., p. 248). There is an important reference to Hatton in Hilliard’s Treatise which should relate to this sitting. It occurs in his discussion of ürer’s theory of proportion in relation to the face:
“Therefore I will be bold to remember me of one, namely Sir Christopher Hatton, sometime Lord Chancellor of England, a man generally known and respected of all men amongst the best favours, and held to be one of the goodliest personages of England: yet had he a very low forehead, not answerable to that good proportion of a third part of his face…”
(A Treatise Concerning Arte of Limning, ed. R. K. R. Thornton and T. G. S. Cain, Carcanet New Press, 1981, p. 81).
The dating of this experiment with a full-length miniature on a minute scale as after 1588 makes it follow in date Oliver’s earliest experiment of this type of scale dated 1587 (no. 137). As usual there it no grasp of the rules of scientific perspective, the lines of the table and window going impossibly in opposite directions to and from the vanishing point. Hilliard abandoned this format almost immediately.
This version is the ad vivum while at Bevloir there is a replica (V&A, 1947 (51)). In the latter the sun is shining through the window and there is a fireplace to the right. The overall height of the figure in the Belvoir version is just under two inches. In the case of the V&A’s version, 2 3/16 inches, also the areas of green have flaked badly and been restored and the areas using lakes have faded. Recently a head and shoulders version related to the same sitting has come to light (Private Collection).
COLLECTIONS: Either this or the version at Belvoir, Stowe sale March 15th 1849 (lot 87); J. L. Propert Collection; purchased by Salting at the dispersal of his collection by the Fine Art Society, 1897; bequeathed with the Salting Bequest, 1910.
LITERATURE: V&A, 1947 (50).
Auerbach, Hilliard, pp. 116-17, pl. 91; 303 (90).
Strong, Tudor and Jacobean, I. pp. 137-38.”
Exhibition History
Artists of the Tudor Court: the portrait miniature rediscovered, 1520-1620 (Victoria and Albert Museum 09/07/1983-06/11/19833)
Labels and date
British Galleries:
Nicholas Hilliard and Miniature Painting
Nicholas Hilliard trained as a goldsmith and developed painting techniques that exploited this training. He used metallic pigments to mimic the jewellery on the opulent clothes that were fashionable. Hilliard created the image of Elizabeth and her courtiers that we know today, but he never won a salaried position at court. He had to set up shop in the City of London. From there he painted anyone who could afford his services.
TWO ROYAL FAVOURITES
Hilliard's portrait of Robert Dudley (about 1532-1588) shows the dashing favourite of Elizabeth I, aged about 40. Dudley hoped to marry the young Queen and become King, but Elizabeth never married. Favourites such as Dudley and Christopher Hatton (1540-1591) were established political leaders. Hatton, as Lord Chancellor, chose to be painted in his robes of state. [27/03/2003]
Production Note
Hatton was made a Knight of the Garter in 1588 and died in 1591. In the miniature he is depicted wearing a chain with a pendant of St. George, so the miniature must have been painted at some point between these two dates.
Materials
Watercolour; Vellum
Techniques
Painting
Subjects depicted
Chair; Dog (animal); Chain; Tables (support furniture); Mace; Hatton, Christopher (Sir, 1st Baron Hatton)
Categories
British Galleries; Portraits; Paintings
Collection code
PDP
