Attributed to Laurence Hilliard, English 1581/82-1648- Portrait miniature of a bearded nobleman, quarter-length turned to the left, wearing a black doublet, cap and lace ruff, against a blue ground with inscription in gold 'Anno Dm. 1635 Aetatis...

Attributed to Laurence Hilliard, English 1581/82-1648- Portrait miniature of a bearded nobleman, quarter-length turned to the left, wearing a black doublet, cap and lace ruff, against a blue ground with inscription in gold 'Anno Dm. 1635 Aetatis Sua.77.' and initial 'H', in a double sided glazed, hinged silver locket, the reverse enclosing dark blue fabric, 5 x 3.7 cm. Note: Son of the master miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard (1547–1619), one of the leading figures in the golden age of portrait miniature production in Elizabethan and Jacobean England, Laurence was the only of Nicholas’s seven children to enter into the same profession. He joined his father’s workshop in 1597 and eventually succeeded him as the king’s ‘limner’ (or ‘painter in little’) in 1619. Though much of his work was assisting his father in creating routine images of James I, there are a few rare images by Laurence of private individuals, the present work included. In 1624 he was paid £42 from the Treasury for five pictures, though the warrant does not specify whom they represented. His portraits are rare - two of the most exquisite being those in the collections of the Earl Beauchamp and Mr J. Pierpont Morgan. They are often signed ‘L.H.’, but are also to be distinguished by the beauty of the calligraphy in which the inscriptions round the portraits are written – usually very florid, full of exquisite curves and flourishes, and more elaborate than the generally more formal handwriting of Nicholas Hilliard.
Please refer to department for condition report In a glazed metal frame. The frame would benefit from a polish. There are minor scratches on the head piece, only visible on close inspection. Some discolouration consistent with its age. Overall in very good condition.