A Woman, called Mrs William Russell, born Elisabeth Reymes
Portrait Miniature
ca. 1655-1660 (painted)
ca. 1655-1660 (painted)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This miniature was painted in the last years of the so-called Interregnum, the years between the execution of King Charles I in 1649 and the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. After the Restoration Richard Gibson became Samuel Cooper's leading competitor in London. But during the Interregnum, Gibson's working life could not have been more different. Unlike Cooper, Gibson did not train within the highly competitive professional London art world. His early monogram, ‘DG’, standing for the diminutive ‘Dick’ or even ‘Dwarf’, reflects his very different introduction to miniature painting. Gibson was only three feet ten inches tall (about 1.2 metres) and was employed as a ‘page’, a position more usually taken by young boys. He learned drawing and miniature painting with encouragement of his employers, especially Philip Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, Lord Chamberlain to Charles I. Pembroke died in 1649, the same year as the King, leaving Gibson an annuity. Gibson was able to spend the uncertain years of the Interregnum at Ascot, under the protection of Pembroke's grandson. When the family returned to power and influence with the Restoration, Gibson moved to London, setting up professionally, and signing himself confidently ‘RG’. His painting technique reflects his unusual training, as can be seen in this miniature. Gibson painted miniatures using a thick, rough impasto (paste-like pigment), an oil painting technique that he undoubtedly copied from his friend Peter Lely, a portrait painter in oils.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | A Woman, called Mrs William Russell, born Elisabeth Reymes (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Watercolour on vellum put down on pasteboard |
| Brief description | Portrait miniature of a woman, called Mrs William Russell, born Elisabeth Reymes. Watercolour on vellum by Richard Gibson, ca.1655-1660. |
| Physical description | Portrait of a woman, head and shoulders, turned to right and looking to front; the sitter is wearing a blue dress and a necklace of pearls. Features in brown and sanguine, hatched and heavily impasted in blue-grey and white, the eyes in brown and black with some touches of gum and white for the lights, on a pale carnation ground; hair in brown wash, hatched with darker colour and with the lights in pale gouache, painted over the carnation; dress in blue wash, modelled with darker colour and with the lights in white; chemise in white, modelled in pale grey; pearls in grey with white lights; background a grey wash hatched sparsely with black to the left especially, and lightening to the right; a gold marginal strip; on vellum put down on pasteboard. Frame: Twentieth-century copper-gilt locket, the shallowly convex back soldered to a flange which is itself soldered to a side strip rolled out with three deep channels separated by sharp arrises; the glass shallowly convex with rounded bevelled edges held in the bezel of a simple copper-gilt strip push-fitted to the locket; the hanger of square section with a deep central channel, drawn out at the back into tapering spirals of 61 turns. |
| Dimensions |
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| Content description | Miniature portrait of a woman wearing a blue dress and a pearl necklace. |
| Styles | |
| Credit line | Alan Evans Bequest, given by the National Gallery |
| Object history | Provenance: Recorded as from the collection of a Miss Martyn, 1923, from whom acquired by the Hon. FHA Wallop; lent to the V&A 1927-49; given to Alan Evans 1933, and by him bequeathed to the National Gallery, 1947; placed on indeterminate loan at the V&A. |
| Summary | This miniature was painted in the last years of the so-called Interregnum, the years between the execution of King Charles I in 1649 and the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. After the Restoration Richard Gibson became Samuel Cooper's leading competitor in London. But during the Interregnum, Gibson's working life could not have been more different. Unlike Cooper, Gibson did not train within the highly competitive professional London art world. His early monogram, ‘DG’, standing for the diminutive ‘Dick’ or even ‘Dwarf’, reflects his very different introduction to miniature painting. Gibson was only three feet ten inches tall (about 1.2 metres) and was employed as a ‘page’, a position more usually taken by young boys. He learned drawing and miniature painting with encouragement of his employers, especially Philip Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, Lord Chamberlain to Charles I. Pembroke died in 1649, the same year as the King, leaving Gibson an annuity. Gibson was able to spend the uncertain years of the Interregnum at Ascot, under the protection of Pembroke's grandson. When the family returned to power and influence with the Restoration, Gibson moved to London, setting up professionally, and signing himself confidently ‘RG’. His painting technique reflects his unusual training, as can be seen in this miniature. Gibson painted miniatures using a thick, rough impasto (paste-like pigment), an oil painting technique that he undoubtedly copied from his friend Peter Lely, a portrait painter in oils. |
| Bibliographic reference | Murdoch, John. Seventeenth-century English Miniatures in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: The Stationery Office, 1997. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | EVANS.37 |
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| Record created | February 24, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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