Object Type
Strictly speaking, this is a drawing rather than a miniature, which is a watercolour art. But Balthazar Gerbier, an amateur artist, was also a painter of miniatures and the drawing incorporates some aspects of miniature painting, being on vellum (a fine parchment) and using touches of watercolour.
People
Gerbier was born in The Netherlands but his early education and training are obscure. He must have been schooled in the accomplishments necessary for courtiers, particularly a knowledge of 'war-like machines'. This recommended him to Prince William of Orange, whose service he entered in 1615. In 1616 he was sent to England to work for the Dutch ambassador, but soon after transferred his service to George Villiers, the Earl, and subsequently Duke, of Buckingham. He became the Duke's domestic architect and adviser on matters of art. In 1628, after Buckingham's assassination, Gerbier transferred formally to the service of Charles I.
Historical Associations
This picture was drawn about 1616, when Gerbier had just arrived in England and Charles was formally invested as Prince of Wales. The Latin inscription translates as 'Most illustrious and powerful Prince of Great Britain and Ireland, Prince Charles'. Thus it celebrates the Prince's new standing, an appropriate subject for an ambitious courtier in the making.
Physical description
Portrait half-length, to left and looking to front. The sitter is wearing a ruff collar and a chain over his shoulders. The portrait is set in a decorated border with a coat of arms and the feathers of the Prince of Wales above. Features in dark grey-brown stipple over perhaps a faint pale brown under drawing on the bare vellum; hair in pale brown stipple and line, shaded with graphite; collar, bare vellum slightly lined with pale brown; costume in pale brown stipple; architectural surround similarly in stipple and line, 'ruled' also in parallel and concentric lines and with some graphite shading; a ruled marginal strip; on unsupported vellum.
Frame: Nineteenth-century frame of tortoiseshell and stained oak, with gilt-lined rebate.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (made)
Date
ca.1616-1617 (made)
Artist/maker
Gerbier, Balthazar (Sir), born 1592 - died 1663 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
Watercolour, shaded with graphite on vellum
Marks and inscriptions
'Gerbier fec 1616'
'Magnae Britaniae et Hiberniae Princep Illustriss: et Potentiss: Princeps Caro [lus]'
'Gerber / N28'
'17 48'
Dimensions
Height: 14.7 cm including frame and hanging loop, Width: 11.4 cm including frame, Depth: 1.6 cm including frame
Object history note
Provenance: Acquired by John Jones from an unrecorded source before 1865, and by him bequeathed to the Museum, 1882.
Descriptive line
Portrait of Charles I, as Prince of Wales. Miniature by Balthasar Gerbier, ca.1616-1617.
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 2., pp.11-12. Full Citation:
"3 Charles I, as Prince of Wales (b.1600 d.1649)
c.1616-17
621-1882
Rectangular
Features in dark grey-brown stipple over perhaps a faint pale brown underdrawing on the bare vellum; hair in pale brown stipple and line, shaded with graphite; collar, bare vellum slightly lined with pale brown; costume in pale brown stipple; architectural surround similarly in stipple and line, 'ruled' also in parallel and concentric lines and with some graphite shading; a ruled marginal strip; on unsupported vellum.
Condition: Apparently excellent.
Signed: Lower centre: Gerbier fec: and dated lower right: 1616. Inscribed: Lettered round the image: Magnae Britaniae et Hiberniae Princep Illustriss: et Potentiss: Princeps Caro [lus]. Inscribed on the back in graphite by a nineteenth-century (?) hand: Gerber. / N28 and in ink: 17 48.
Frame: Nineteenth-century frame of tortoiseshell and stained oak, with gilt-lined rebate.
Provenance: Acquired by John Jones from an unrecorded source before 1865, and by him bequeathed to the Museum, 1882.
Exhibited: South Kensington 1865, no. 835.
Literature: Williamson 1904, vol I. p. 36; Heath 1905, p. 116; Foster 1914-16, vol. I. no. 154, pl. LXI; vol. II, p. 116, no. 1; Long 1923, p. 77, no. 603; Long 1929, p. 169; Long 1930, p. 30, fig. 24; Reynolds 1952, p. 39 (perhaps conflated with Cat. No. 2); Whinney and Millar 1957, p. 102; Foskett 1963, p. 64, fig. 24; Schidloff 1964, vol. I, p. 289, repro., vol. III, pl. 237; Foskett 1972, vol. I, p. 287; Summary Catalogue 1981, p. 24. See also Toynbee 1949, pp.4-9, on the early iconography of Charles I.
Although published accounts of Gerbier after Long repeat the supposed dependence of his draughtsmanship on Hendrick Goltzius, the immediate source of the technique and of the classicizing iconography of this miniature lies in the prints of the van de Passes, of Elstrack and Delaram. Among images of Charles, the analogies point most strongly to a relationship between Gerbier and Simon van de Passe, and the present image seems to fit neatly in a series of the print emerging from the van de Passe workshop which sought to establish Charles in the image of his brother Henry after November 1612. The Gerbier portrait follows the images of Charles as Duke of York and Knight of the Garter in the second edition of Regiae Anglicae Majestatis Pictura (1) and leads on to that projected in the Baziliwlogia. (2)
As to date, the present miniature coincides with the portrait used for the first publication of James I's Works of the Most High and Mightie Prince, James…King of Great Britain, France and Ireland…, (3) but differs from it in incorporating the Prince of Wales's feathers gracefully into the titled scrollwork surround instead of awkwardly squeezing them into the niche space behind the head. Since Charles's investiture as Prince of Wales was in November 1616, Gerbier's portrait must represent one of the first sitting by the Prince with his new title.
On the iconography, see also entry for Cat. No. 2.
1 1613, first edition, Cologne 1604; Hind 1955, p. 54, pl. 25.
2 1618, state 1; Hind 1955, p. 133, pl. 65b.
3 1616; Hind 1955, p. 254, pl. 150a."
Exhibition History
Special Exhibition of Portrait Miniatures on Loan at the South Kensington Museum (South Kensington Museum 01/01/1865-31/12/1865)
Labels and date
British Galleries:
Limning (painting miniatures) was regarded as a gentlemanly accomplishment. The artist, Sir Balthasar Gerbier, was a courtier who later went abroad on political and picture-buying missions for the Duke of Buckingham. [27/03/2003]
Materials
Watercolour; Vellum; Graphite
Subjects depicted
Feathers; Prince; Charles I (King of England); Ruff; Chain
Categories
Portraits; Royalty; Drawings
Collection code
PDP
