Sir William Palmer
Portrait Miniature
1657 (painted)
1657 (painted)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Object Type
The term 'miniature' refers to the watercolour medium in which this work is painted, rather than its size. Most portraits painted in miniature are sufficiently small to be mounted in lockets and could have been worn as jewels. However, many miniatures were also kept in a cabinet or in a small case to be carried and viewed as we would today a snapshot. According to the descendants of the sitter, this miniature was originally kept in a shagreen case (artificially granulated leather) lined with blue velvet.
People
Sir William Palmer of Warden, Bedfordshire, was knighted 18 April 1641, presumably for military service. The following year saw the outbreak of Civil War, ending with the execution of the King in 1649. Palmer seems to have lived quietly through the Interregnum, although, like many men at this time, he is painted wearing his armour. He married Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Bramston of Maldon, Essex, and was buried on 7 March 1682.
Subject Depicted
This miniature epitomises Cooper's skill at capturing character. Cooper does not smooth the features to flatter. Instead the sitter's face is shown almost in profile and raked by strong light, so that deep shadows emphasise each curve and crease. Cooper's approach is very different from that of the outstanding miniature painter Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619), who followed his patron Elizabeth I's command to 'shadow not'. Here the sitter's craggy, rugged features are subjected to close scrutiny.
The term 'miniature' refers to the watercolour medium in which this work is painted, rather than its size. Most portraits painted in miniature are sufficiently small to be mounted in lockets and could have been worn as jewels. However, many miniatures were also kept in a cabinet or in a small case to be carried and viewed as we would today a snapshot. According to the descendants of the sitter, this miniature was originally kept in a shagreen case (artificially granulated leather) lined with blue velvet.
People
Sir William Palmer of Warden, Bedfordshire, was knighted 18 April 1641, presumably for military service. The following year saw the outbreak of Civil War, ending with the execution of the King in 1649. Palmer seems to have lived quietly through the Interregnum, although, like many men at this time, he is painted wearing his armour. He married Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Bramston of Maldon, Essex, and was buried on 7 March 1682.
Subject Depicted
This miniature epitomises Cooper's skill at capturing character. Cooper does not smooth the features to flatter. Instead the sitter's face is shown almost in profile and raked by strong light, so that deep shadows emphasise each curve and crease. Cooper's approach is very different from that of the outstanding miniature painter Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619), who followed his patron Elizabeth I's command to 'shadow not'. Here the sitter's craggy, rugged features are subjected to close scrutiny.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Sir William Palmer (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Watercolour on vellum, put down on a leaf from a table-book |
| Brief description | Portrait miniature of Sir William Palmer, watercolour on vellum, painted by Samuel Cooper, 1657. |
| Physical description | Features firmly and freely hatched in sanguine and brown, with some blue shadow and gouache heightening, over a thick warm carnation ground; hair in pale brown wash, hatched in darker colour and lined in pale greyish gouache; the armour in grey washes, hatched with darker colour and with extensive white highlighting and gold for the studs; a solid dark brown wash for the background; on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book. Frame: Seventeenth-century oval gold locket, convex back, the sides with a broad central channel, flaring out to the bezel, which holds the convex glass by its bevelled edge; the hanger a channelled loop of D-section, bifurcating into down-turned figures of eight, the upper loop of which on each side begins a tapering and diminishing spiral of three turns; the back engraved with scroll ornament beneath the hanger; packed out with card-leather-card laminate fitting the domed back of the case. According to Long, (1)the miniature was formerly in a shagreen case lined with blue velvet. Long thought this was probably original. |
| Dimensions |
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| Content description | Miniature portrait of a man wearing armour. |
| Styles | |
| Production type | Unique |
| Marks and inscriptions | 'AEt 52 / SC. 1657' (Inscribed in gold, centre right) |
| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Purchased with funds from the R. H. Stephenson Bequest |
| Object history | Sir Wiliam Palmer of Warden, Beds, was knighted in April 1641, presumably for his military service to the crown. There are no other known portraits of him. Provenance: By descent in the sitter's family (called Palmer-Morewood from 1825); acquired by 1929 by A FW Gourlay (husband of Violet, elder daughter of the fourth son of Charles Rowland Palmer- Morewood, 1819-1873, see Burke, Landed Gentry); bequeathed to his son Peter Gourlay; bt by the Museum with funds from the R H Stephenson Bequest, April 1956. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Object Type The term 'miniature' refers to the watercolour medium in which this work is painted, rather than its size. Most portraits painted in miniature are sufficiently small to be mounted in lockets and could have been worn as jewels. However, many miniatures were also kept in a cabinet or in a small case to be carried and viewed as we would today a snapshot. According to the descendants of the sitter, this miniature was originally kept in a shagreen case (artificially granulated leather) lined with blue velvet. People Sir William Palmer of Warden, Bedfordshire, was knighted 18 April 1641, presumably for military service. The following year saw the outbreak of Civil War, ending with the execution of the King in 1649. Palmer seems to have lived quietly through the Interregnum, although, like many men at this time, he is painted wearing his armour. He married Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Bramston of Maldon, Essex, and was buried on 7 March 1682. Subject Depicted This miniature epitomises Cooper's skill at capturing character. Cooper does not smooth the features to flatter. Instead the sitter's face is shown almost in profile and raked by strong light, so that deep shadows emphasise each curve and crease. Cooper's approach is very different from that of the outstanding miniature painter Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619), who followed his patron Elizabeth I's command to 'shadow not'. Here the sitter's craggy, rugged features are subjected to close scrutiny. |
| 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 | P.3-1956 |
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| Record created | December 15, 1999 |
| Record URL |
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