Portrait of a gentleman clasping a hand from a cloud

Studio of Nicholas Hilliard
Portrait of a gentleman clasping a hand from a cloud

Watercolour, gouache, gold and silver on vellum, later gilt-metal frame, the cartouche engraved R. Devereux Earl of Essex;
inscribed and dated in gold in the background: Attici amoris ergo et Ano. Dni. 1588
60 by 49 mm

Catalogue Note:
This superb and enigmatic image of a gentleman clasping hand descending from a cloud is recognised as a studio copy, possibly by Rowland Lockey (circa 1565-1616), of the portrait by Nicholas Hilliard that is now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (inv. no. P.21-1942).

Recorded as belonging to the Earls of Carlisle at Castle Howard in the early 1880s, the sitter's identity has been the subject of much debate, with ideas ranging from Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex to William Shakespeare.

Provenance:
George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle of Castle Howard and Naworth Castle (1843-1911);

Charles Howard, Viscount Morpeth, M.C., later 12th Earl of Carlisle (1923-1994) of Ganthorpe Hall, by descent;

Sotheby's, London, 14 May 1959, lot 115 (as 'unknown gentleman by Nicholas Hilliard');

John, 9th Baron Wharton (1908-1969);

Dr Leslie Hotson of Connecticut (1897-1992),

his executor’s sale, London, Christie's, 3 March 1993, lot 171 (as 'a young gentleman possibly Lord Thomas Howard by Nicholas Hilliard');

Mrs T.S. Eliot, née Esmé Valerie Fletcher (1926-2012),

her executor’s sale, Christie’s, London, 20 November 2013, lot 42.

Literature:
R. Gower, The Great Historic Galleries of England, 1882, vol. I, Castle Howard, ill. pl. 6 (as 'Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, attributed to Isaac Oliver');

G.C. Williamson, Portrait Miniatures, London 1897, illust. opp. p. 32 (as 'Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex by Isaac Oliver', owned by the Earl of Carlisle);

G.C. Williamson, The History of the Portrait Miniature, London, 1904, vol. II, p. 137-138;

Lord Hawkesbury, Catalogue of the Portraits, Miniatures, &c., at Castle Howard, The Transactions of the East Riding Antiquarian Society for the Year Ending October 1903, XI, 1904, p. 62, no. 10 (as Robert, Earl of Essex);

C. Winter, Elizabethan Miniatures, London 1943, p. 24, IV, (as Nicholas Hillyarde (sic) Man Clasping a Hand from a Cloud);

G. Reynolds, Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver, London, 1947, p. 29;

G. Reynolds, English Portrait Miniatures, London, 1952, p. 13;

K. Le Riche, 'A Portrait of Shakespeare', English Shakespeare Fellowship News-Letter, 1953;

The Illustrated London News, 23 May 1959, illustrated p. 898;

R. Mortimer, 'Neglected Painter. Hilliard, the Royal 'Limner'', a review of Erna Auerbach's book, Nicholas Hilliard in The Sunday Times, 28 May 1961;

E. Auerbach, Nicholas Hilliard, London 1961, p. 100, illust. pl. 74, p. 299, no. 72;

L. Hotson, Shakespeare by Hilliard, A Portrait Deciphered, California 1977, passim, colour jacket illustration, colour frontispiece and illustrated opposite p. 54, pl. 3;

M. Edmund, Hilliard and Oliver, The lives and works of two great miniaturists, London 1983, p. 92;

R. Strong, Artists of the Tudor Court, The Portrait Miniature Rediscovered 1520-1620, London, 1983, pp. 75-76;

R. Strong, The English Renaissance Miniature, London 1983, pp. 96-97 & 202;

The Times, 10 February 1993, illust.;

M. Thibaut, 'Der Miniaturenmarkt nach den Londoner Auktionen: Beschauliche Stabilität', Handelsblatt, no. 55, 19-20 March 1993, p. G2, illust.;

H. Mallalieu, 'Around the Salerooms', Country Life, 1 April 1993, pp. 72-72, illust. fig. 3;

'Adjugé', La Vie Française, 3-9 April 1993;

F. Biddulph, 'Small Wonders', The Antique Collector, October 1993, pp. 84 & 85, fig. 10;

'Antiques. Get a Head in Collecting', Sunday Express, 19 February 1995, illust.;

exh. cat., Le Goût de la Renaissance, un dialogue entre collectionneur, cat. 109, p. 232, illust. p. 255.