Portrait of Sir Henry Wotton in a Black Doublet and White Ruff c.1610-20
Circle of Cornelius Johnson (1593-1661)
A feature of this exquisitely rendered oil on panel portrait is its remarkable seventeenth century carved auricular / Sunderland frame – a splendid and rare work of art in itself.
The subject depicted is the poet and ambassador, and contemporary of Shakespeare, Sir Henry Wotton. Sir Henry was the most widely cultivated Englishman of his time and the period of Wotton's life covers the whole of what is known as the great age of Elizabethan literature, from the defeat of the Armada to the death of Shakespeare, and extends almost to the outbreak of the Civil Wars. A ripe classical scholar, an elegant Latinist, trained in Greek, he was an admirable linguist in modern languages as well. He corresponded with Bacon about natural philosophy, and was the friend of most of the learned men of that epoch, both at home and on the Continent; the first English collector of Italian pictures, he brought from Italy, where he lived many years, the refined taste in art and architecture, the varied culture of antiquity and the Renaissance. Famous in his own day as a ' wit and fine gentleman ', he deserves to be remembered as a noble example of that much maligned class, the 'Italianate' Englishmen - one who, with all his foreign culture, never lost the sincerity and old-fashioned piety of a 'plain Kentish man'. He yet may be counted as one of the great Elizabethans endowed with the gift of a letter-writer, which none of his more famous contemporaries possessed.
Born on 30 March 1568, at Boughton or Bocton Hall, in the centre of the county of Kent, Sir Henry was a son of Thomas Wotton (1489-1551) and his second wife Eleanor Finch. At the time of his birth Bocton Hall had been the seat of the Wotton family for about one hundred and fifty years, his father Thomas being fourth in descent from Nicholas Wotton, Lord Mayor of London in the reign of Henry V. Once settled in this old house, and allying themselves by marriage with long-established Kentish families, the Wotton’s had prospered, and had risen to considerable positions in the service of the State. Among those honourable families of country gentlemen, which were one of the main sources of the greatness of Tudor England, the Wotton’s were distinguished by a peculiar honesty, old-fashioned piety, and simplicity of nature. In the time of the dissolution of the abbeys, and the plunder of the church lands, none of them grew rich, though high in the public service; they habitually declined, rather than sought, court honours and preferment. Sir Edward Wotton (1489-1551), Henry Wotton's grandfather, who was Treasurer of Calais in 1540, and one of the executors of Henry VIII, was said to have refused, out of modesty, the office of Lord Chancellor offered him by that King.
In 1584 Wotton, then aged sixteen, went from Winchester to New College, Oxford but by 1589 he left for abroad travelling on the continent. Foreign travel was almost a necessary part of the education of an ambitious youth in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and for the young Englishmen the main object of travel was almost always political. So important for political purposes was foreign travel considered, that Queen Elizabeth was constantly sending young men abroad at her own expense. These young travellers needed to obtain a licence and were restricted to certain countries, and to certain periods of time. When he returned to England in 1594, he was taken, almost immediately, into the service of the Queen's favourite, Robert, Earl of Essex. There he again went to Italy, where he obtained the confidence of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who employed him as a private envoy to James VI of Scotland, and when that king succeeded to the English throne, he was sent as his ambassador to many princes. He later was the Provostship of Eton, which he held till his death in 1689.
Exquisitely detailed throughout the sitter is wearing a black doublet and white lace collar and cuffs. These elements are very carefully observed but the excellent treatment of the face is most notable - with the build-up and layering of colours to mimic realistic nuances of skin tones, and the soft appearance achieved by using the ‘sfumato’ technique. This is a very fine example of painting in England from the first quarter of the seventeenth century.
This portrait passed by family descent to Anne Eliza Bray (1790-1883). Between 1826 and 1874 she wrote over a dozen very popular historical novels, travel and history books, as well as articles for 'The Gentleman's Magazine' and 'Blackwood's Magazine'; she also published her famous correspondence with Southey. She was first married to the artist Charles Alfred Stothard, the son of Thomas Stothard, and after he was killed in an accident, completed his book 'The Monumental Effigies of Great Britain'. She married secondly the Rev. Edward Atkyns Bray, vicar of Tavistock. It is no doubt that she would have been enthralled to be the custodian of a portrait Sir Henry Wotton, with his miraculous skill of writing, too.
Cornelius Johnson (1593-1664) through merit and splendid achievement, can be placed within the first rank of England’s portrait painters of the generation before Van Dyke. Cornelius Johnson was a painter beautifully sensitive to individual character and his careful and faithful depictions of clothing afford a priceless resource to historians – he was the first British-born portrait painter (born in London) to regularly sign and date his work. His precise, meticulous, and dignified portraits perfectly reflect the spirit of the arts in England at the time. So great a painter, he was sworn in as the King’s own painter in 1632. His work is found in most pubic collections in Britain and in many private collections – seen on the walls in many British country houses, in the possession of descendants of the original sitters.
Johnson was born into a Flemish/German immigrant family in 1593 in London. He is thought to have begun his independent practice in London, in about 1619. Where he trained it is not fully known as records are scant, but it is thought to be in Amsterdam. In addition, he may also have received some training in the London studio of Marcus Gheeraerts II (1561/2-1636), who was the official portraitist of James I’s queen, Anne of Denmark. As a result, even Johnson’s earliest pictures display a level of continental sophistication not often seen in the works of English Jacobean artists. And in a society that relished ‘conspicuous consumption’, and thus the display of expensive costumes, Johnson’s Dutch realism and sense of likeness proved popular. He became extremely prolific and he painted elegant images of the King, the Queen, and the whole court, many leading lawyers and public servants, but also a regional clientele away from the court primarily in Kent.
In 1632, the same year Van Dyck arrived in England, Johnson was appointed one of King Charles I’s painters. In late 1634 Johnson is recorded to have been living in London. By some accounts, Johnson moved to Kent around 1636 but this is not known for certain. What is certain is that from about the early 1630s onwards his clients included many sitters from a group of families living around Canterbury, Kent.
In 1643, just prior to the outbreak of the Civil Wars in Britain, Johnson and his family left for Holland where he worked in more than one city and was leading portrait painter in Utrecht, where he remained until his death. His only surviving son, called Cornelius, was born in London in 1634. He too was a painter and assisted his father.
It has also been suggested that this portrait could represent Sir Henry’s brother Sir James Wotton who was knighted at Cadiz in 1596 and died in 1628.
Measurements: Height 95cm, Width 82cm, Depth 9cm framed (Height 37.5”, Width 32.25”, Depth 3.5” framed)
£ 14,250
€ 15,250 (*EU market only)
$ 17,250 (*US market only)
*Based on Wise.com exchange rate - subject to change
Circle of Cornelius Johnson (1593-1661)
A feature of this exquisitely rendered oil on panel portrait is its remarkable seventeenth century carved auricular / Sunderland frame – a splendid and rare work of art in itself.
The subject depicted is the poet and ambassador, and contemporary of Shakespeare, Sir Henry Wotton. Sir Henry was the most widely cultivated Englishman of his time and the period of Wotton's life covers the whole of what is known as the great age of Elizabethan literature, from the defeat of the Armada to the death of Shakespeare, and extends almost to the outbreak of the Civil Wars. A ripe classical scholar, an elegant Latinist, trained in Greek, he was an admirable linguist in modern languages as well. He corresponded with Bacon about natural philosophy, and was the friend of most of the learned men of that epoch, both at home and on the Continent; the first English collector of Italian pictures, he brought from Italy, where he lived many years, the refined taste in art and architecture, the varied culture of antiquity and the Renaissance. Famous in his own day as a ' wit and fine gentleman ', he deserves to be remembered as a noble example of that much maligned class, the 'Italianate' Englishmen - one who, with all his foreign culture, never lost the sincerity and old-fashioned piety of a 'plain Kentish man'. He yet may be counted as one of the great Elizabethans endowed with the gift of a letter-writer, which none of his more famous contemporaries possessed.
Born on 30 March 1568, at Boughton or Bocton Hall, in the centre of the county of Kent, Sir Henry was a son of Thomas Wotton (1489-1551) and his second wife Eleanor Finch. At the time of his birth Bocton Hall had been the seat of the Wotton family for about one hundred and fifty years, his father Thomas being fourth in descent from Nicholas Wotton, Lord Mayor of London in the reign of Henry V. Once settled in this old house, and allying themselves by marriage with long-established Kentish families, the Wotton’s had prospered, and had risen to considerable positions in the service of the State. Among those honourable families of country gentlemen, which were one of the main sources of the greatness of Tudor England, the Wotton’s were distinguished by a peculiar honesty, old-fashioned piety, and simplicity of nature. In the time of the dissolution of the abbeys, and the plunder of the church lands, none of them grew rich, though high in the public service; they habitually declined, rather than sought, court honours and preferment. Sir Edward Wotton (1489-1551), Henry Wotton's grandfather, who was Treasurer of Calais in 1540, and one of the executors of Henry VIII, was said to have refused, out of modesty, the office of Lord Chancellor offered him by that King.
In 1584 Wotton, then aged sixteen, went from Winchester to New College, Oxford but by 1589 he left for abroad travelling on the continent. Foreign travel was almost a necessary part of the education of an ambitious youth in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and for the young Englishmen the main object of travel was almost always political. So important for political purposes was foreign travel considered, that Queen Elizabeth was constantly sending young men abroad at her own expense. These young travellers needed to obtain a licence and were restricted to certain countries, and to certain periods of time. When he returned to England in 1594, he was taken, almost immediately, into the service of the Queen's favourite, Robert, Earl of Essex. There he again went to Italy, where he obtained the confidence of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who employed him as a private envoy to James VI of Scotland, and when that king succeeded to the English throne, he was sent as his ambassador to many princes. He later was the Provostship of Eton, which he held till his death in 1689.
Exquisitely detailed throughout the sitter is wearing a black doublet and white lace collar and cuffs. These elements are very carefully observed but the excellent treatment of the face is most notable - with the build-up and layering of colours to mimic realistic nuances of skin tones, and the soft appearance achieved by using the ‘sfumato’ technique. This is a very fine example of painting in England from the first quarter of the seventeenth century.
This portrait passed by family descent to Anne Eliza Bray (1790-1883). Between 1826 and 1874 she wrote over a dozen very popular historical novels, travel and history books, as well as articles for 'The Gentleman's Magazine' and 'Blackwood's Magazine'; she also published her famous correspondence with Southey. She was first married to the artist Charles Alfred Stothard, the son of Thomas Stothard, and after he was killed in an accident, completed his book 'The Monumental Effigies of Great Britain'. She married secondly the Rev. Edward Atkyns Bray, vicar of Tavistock. It is no doubt that she would have been enthralled to be the custodian of a portrait Sir Henry Wotton, with his miraculous skill of writing, too.
Cornelius Johnson (1593-1664) through merit and splendid achievement, can be placed within the first rank of England’s portrait painters of the generation before Van Dyke. Cornelius Johnson was a painter beautifully sensitive to individual character and his careful and faithful depictions of clothing afford a priceless resource to historians – he was the first British-born portrait painter (born in London) to regularly sign and date his work. His precise, meticulous, and dignified portraits perfectly reflect the spirit of the arts in England at the time. So great a painter, he was sworn in as the King’s own painter in 1632. His work is found in most pubic collections in Britain and in many private collections – seen on the walls in many British country houses, in the possession of descendants of the original sitters.
Johnson was born into a Flemish/German immigrant family in 1593 in London. He is thought to have begun his independent practice in London, in about 1619. Where he trained it is not fully known as records are scant, but it is thought to be in Amsterdam. In addition, he may also have received some training in the London studio of Marcus Gheeraerts II (1561/2-1636), who was the official portraitist of James I’s queen, Anne of Denmark. As a result, even Johnson’s earliest pictures display a level of continental sophistication not often seen in the works of English Jacobean artists. And in a society that relished ‘conspicuous consumption’, and thus the display of expensive costumes, Johnson’s Dutch realism and sense of likeness proved popular. He became extremely prolific and he painted elegant images of the King, the Queen, and the whole court, many leading lawyers and public servants, but also a regional clientele away from the court primarily in Kent.
In 1632, the same year Van Dyck arrived in England, Johnson was appointed one of King Charles I’s painters. In late 1634 Johnson is recorded to have been living in London. By some accounts, Johnson moved to Kent around 1636 but this is not known for certain. What is certain is that from about the early 1630s onwards his clients included many sitters from a group of families living around Canterbury, Kent.
In 1643, just prior to the outbreak of the Civil Wars in Britain, Johnson and his family left for Holland where he worked in more than one city and was leading portrait painter in Utrecht, where he remained until his death. His only surviving son, called Cornelius, was born in London in 1634. He too was a painter and assisted his father.
It has also been suggested that this portrait could represent Sir Henry’s brother Sir James Wotton who was knighted at Cadiz in 1596 and died in 1628.
Measurements: Height 95cm, Width 82cm, Depth 9cm framed (Height 37.5”, Width 32.25”, Depth 3.5” framed)
£ 14,250
€ 15,250 (*EU market only)
$ 17,250 (*US market only)
*Based on Wise.com exchange rate - subject to change