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Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby D'Eresby

Portrait Miniature
Artist/Maker
Hilliard, Nicholas (artist)
Place of origin
England (painted)

This miniature was acquired in 1947 as a work by Nicholas Hilliard. In 1983 this miniature was re-attributed to Isaac Oliver by Roy Strong in the V&A exhibition 'Artists of the Tudor Court', 1983, cat.no.142. But the miniature has long been accepted as by Hilliard, including by notable scholars such as Erna Auerbach, and retains this attribution today. Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby d’Eresby (1555-1601), was Commander in the Low Countries in succession to Leicester, 1587-89, defended Bergen against the Spaniards, and in 1589-90 he aided Henri of Navarre. Poverty and ill-health led him to live abroad, 1590-96, returning as Governor of Berwick.

Object details

Categories
Paintings
Portraits
Object type
Portrait miniature
TitlePeregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby D'Eresby (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on vellum, stuck onto card
Watercolour
Vellum
Cardboard
Painting
Brief description
Portrait miniature of Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby D'Eresby, watercolour on vellum, by Nicholas Hilliard. This miniature was attributed to Isaac Oliver by Roy Strong in the exhibition 'Artists of the Tudor Court', 1983, cat.no.142.
Physical description
Portrait miniature of a man in a gold jacket with white sash, against a cobalt blue background, in an oval frame.
Dimensions
  • Height: 36mm
  • Width: 26mm
  • Case height: 45mm (without loop)
  • Case height: 54mm (with loop)
  • Case width: 37mm
  • Case depth: 5mm
Dimensions taken from: Strong, Roy. Artists of the Tudor Court: the Portrait Miniature Rediscovered 1520-1620.. London: The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983.
Content description
Portrait of a man.
Styles
Elizabethan
Tudor
English School
Production typeUnique
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'by Hilliard / Rt. Hon / Peregrine Bertie / Lord Willoughby / of Eresby Son / of Richard / Bertie Esq. by / Catherine Duchess / of Suffolk' (Inscribed on the reversse of the frame in a later, probably 18th century hand)
  • 'Honble Peregrine Bertie.' (Inscribed again on the reverse of the miniature itself)
Credit line
Purchased with funds from the R. H. Stephenson Bequest
Object history
Sold anonymously Sotheby’s 24th July 1947 (lot 101); purchased with funds from the R. H. Stephenson Bequest.
Subjects depicted
Man
Portrait
Peregrine Bertie
Summary
This miniature was acquired in 1947 as a work by Nicholas Hilliard. In 1983 this miniature was re-attributed to Isaac Oliver by Roy Strong in the V&A exhibition 'Artists of the Tudor Court', 1983, cat.no.142. But the miniature has long been accepted as by Hilliard, including by notable scholars such as Erna Auerbach, and retains this attribution today. Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby d’Eresby (1555-1601), was Commander in the Low Countries in succession to Leicester, 1587-89, defended Bergen against the Spaniards, and in 1589-90 he aided Henri of Navarre. Poverty and ill-health led him to live abroad, 1590-96, returning as Governor of Berwick.
Bibliographic references
  • Strong, Roy. Artists of the Tudor Court: the Portrait Miniature Rediscovered 1520-1620.. London: The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983. Cat. 142, p. 101. [As attributed to Isaac Oliver]. Part Citation: ".. Purchased, and, up until now, accepted as a work by Hilliard... [here Strong argues the miniature is by Isaac Oliver]. Willoughby returned to England from the Low Countries in March 1589; left in September for France, returning early in 1590 and leaving again in the same year to live abroad. The miniature belongs to this period and the Francophile appearance of the sitter recalls Rabel’s engraving of Henri IV (See F. A. Yates, The Valois Tapestries, London, 1959, ed., pl. 2 (f))."
  • Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design & Department of Paintings, Accessions 1947, London: HMSO, 1950. Full text: 'NICHOLAS HILLIARD (1547-1619). Miniature portrait of Peregrine Bertie, 1st Baron Willoughby de Eresby (1555-1601). On vellum on card. Oval.'
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
P.5-1947

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1067949/peregrine-bertie-lord-willoughby-deresby-portrait-miniature-hilliard-nicholas/
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