James I
Portrait Miniature
1623 (made)
1623 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This miniature is by an amateur painter, Sir James Palmer, which explains its somewhat rough and awkward quality. Palmer was the youngest son of Sir Thomas Palmer of Wingham, Kent. The younger Palmer became a courtier at an early age, having secured an appointment in the household of King James I and became a close friend of Prince Charles, later Charles I. He was appointed a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to King James and was knighted.
Palmer's main expertise was in heraldry, particularly in relation to the Order of the Garter, which enjoyed special prominence under the early Stuarts. He became Chancellor of the Order in 1645. It was no doubt through his work in heraldry that he became interested in miniature painting, which used the same materials (watercolour on vellum). In Palmer's portrait, James I is shown wearing the blue ribbon of the Order of the Garter. Although Palmer worked for the king, this portrait is probably based on an oil painting by Daniel Mytens rather than having been painted from life.
Palmer's main expertise was in heraldry, particularly in relation to the Order of the Garter, which enjoyed special prominence under the early Stuarts. He became Chancellor of the Order in 1645. It was no doubt through his work in heraldry that he became interested in miniature painting, which used the same materials (watercolour on vellum). In Palmer's portrait, James I is shown wearing the blue ribbon of the Order of the Garter. Although Palmer worked for the king, this portrait is probably based on an oil painting by Daniel Mytens rather than having been painted from life.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | James I (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Watercolour and bodycolour on vellum, put down on pasteboard |
| Brief description | Portrait miniature of James I, watercolour on vellum, painted by James Palmer, 1623. |
| Physical description | Portrait bust of King James I, to right and looking to front; with a beard, and wearing a ruff and the blue ribbon of the order of the Garter. Features very finely hatched and stippled in brown and grey, with some sanguine in the lips; black in the eyes and lining the nostrils and eye sockets; the beard in small reticulated hatches; all on a very pale carnation ground; hair in pale brown wash, lined with darker colour and with gum heightening with touches of gouache for the lights; ruff in pale grey wash, thickly painted over in white and the edges of the lace in raised white lines; costume washed in greys and brown with burnished metallic gold; ribbon in solid blue wash; background in lake floated we-in-wet with some pink heightening; on vellum put down on pasteboard. Frame: Probably nineteenth- or twentieth-century copper-gilt locket, a convex back, with straight sides, and domed glass set in a bezel; the loop a small wire of V-section soldered across the top. Engraved on the back in copperplate King James I / by / Sir James Palmer / 1623. |
| Dimensions |
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| Styles | |
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Purchased with funds from the R. H. Stephenson Bequest |
| Object history | Provenance: In 1949 in the collection of WV Paterson Esq., sold privately to the anonymous vendor at Sotheby's 1 May 1958, lot 61; bt by the Museum (£70) with funds from the R H Stephenson Bequest. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This miniature is by an amateur painter, Sir James Palmer, which explains its somewhat rough and awkward quality. Palmer was the youngest son of Sir Thomas Palmer of Wingham, Kent. The younger Palmer became a courtier at an early age, having secured an appointment in the household of King James I and became a close friend of Prince Charles, later Charles I. He was appointed a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to King James and was knighted. Palmer's main expertise was in heraldry, particularly in relation to the Order of the Garter, which enjoyed special prominence under the early Stuarts. He became Chancellor of the Order in 1645. It was no doubt through his work in heraldry that he became interested in miniature painting, which used the same materials (watercolour on vellum). In Palmer's portrait, James I is shown wearing the blue ribbon of the Order of the Garter. Although Palmer worked for the king, this portrait is probably based on an oil painting by Daniel Mytens rather than having been painted from life. |
| Bibliographic reference | Murdoch, John. Seventeenth-century English Miniatures in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: The Stationery Office, 1997.
Cat 4., pp.15-16. Part Citation:
Literature: Reynolds 1949, pp 196-7, fig. 13; Reynolds 1952, p.39; Foskett 1963, p. 65; Foskett 1972, vol. I, p. 434; Summary Catalogue, 1981, p. 43.
The basic classification of the James I portraiture by Reynolds 1958, (1) is amplified in respect of the iconography as a whole by Strong 1969, (2) who commented: 'All the known miniatures of James I are by Hilliard and his assistants and there is no certain example by Oliver, who was limner to the Queen.' As Palmer, and therefore consciously omitted from Reynolds's account, this miniature has never figured in NPG iconographies (3) nor has Hoskins (Cat. No. 21 [.27-1954]) which is close in date to this Palmer.
Despite being overlooked in the literature, this miniature is a significant object, with important relationships with major pictures. It is a variant of the late Daniel Mytens type of the king enthroned, wearing the Garter robes, the date of which (Strong suggests) may be as early as c.1621, but which is perhaps significantly first documented in 1623 by a payment to Mytens from 'an ambassador' of that year. (4)
The establishment of Palmer as a miniaturist was also due to Reynolds after correspondence with Carl Winter, who had added to the group of five miniatures otherwise discovered by Reynolds the example in very good condition at the Fitzwilliam. Part of the case for identifying Palmer as the author of the group rested on a typical Morellian style analysis: 'Characteristic points of similarity between his works are to be found in the drawing of shadow under the chin, which is heavily underscored many times, in the pronounced shadow of the upper eyelid and in the fidgety, rather scratchy, treatment of the hair.' (5)
1 Reynolds 1958, pp. 14-26
2 Strong 1969, vol. I, p. 180
3 E.g., Davies 1979
4 Strong 1969, quoting Collins Baker 1912, vol I., p. 41; versions of the Mytens are in the NPG, at Ham House, Knole and elsewhere.
5 Reynolds 1958, p. 197." |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | P.12-1958 |
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| Record created | March 7, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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