Lot 216: CORNELIUS JOHNSON

CORNELIUS JOHNSON LONDON 1593 - 1661 UTRECHT PORTRAIT OF SIR ROBERT HEATH (1575-1649), LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND indistinctly signed and dated lower right: C.J. fecit / 1630 (?), and inscribed upper left: Ld: Cf: Justice Heath oil on panel 75 by 62 cm.; 29 1/2 by 24 1/2 in.

C. Baker, Lely and the Stuart Portrait Painters; A Study of English Portraiture before and after van Dyck, London 1912, p. 80 - 81 (illus.);
A. J. Finberg, "A Chronological List of Portraits by Cornelius Johnson", Walpole Society, Vol. X, Oxford 1922, p. 19

Commissioned by the sitter;
by descent to his son, Sir John Heath (1614-1691), who married Margaret (c.1624-1676), daughter of Sir Mathew Mennes and Lady Margaret Stuart;
by descent to their daughter, Margaret Heath (d.1729), who in 1683 married George Verney, 12th Baron Willoughby de Brooke (1659-1728);
by descent to their son, Richard Verney, 13th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1693-1752);
thence by descent to the present owner

One of the ablest crown officials of the early Stuart period, Sir Robert Heath was born at Brasted, Kent, the son of Robert Heath (1535-1615) and his wife Anne Posyer (1545-1626). Educated at Tonbridge and St John's College, Oxford, he studied law at Clifford's Inn, before moving to the Inner Temple in May 1593. In 1603 he gained the rank of utter barrister and served as Bencher between 1617 and 1637 and Treasurer from 1626 to 1628, during a long career connected with the Temple.

In 1616 Heath entered the service of George Villiers, later 1υst Duke of Buckingham. In 1618 he was elected, with both Buckingham and the King's support, as Recorder for the Corporation of London, and in 1621 was appointed Solicitor-General, his first major crown office. In 1625 he was promoted to Attorney-General, receiving his patent on 31υst October, and sat for East Grinstead in the parliaments of 1624 and 1625.

The assassination of Buckingham in August 1628 deprived Heath of his primary benefactor at court. Nevertheless in October 1631 he was raised to the bench as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Despite being dismissed from the bench in September 1634, Heath regained favour at court quickly to be appointed King's Sergeant in October 1637 and was raised to the bench again as Justice of the King's Bench in January 1641, serving in that office during the early months of the Long Parliament. He avoided impeachment at this time, and was therefore free to follow the King and join him at York in June 1642. The following October he was raised to the office of Chief Justice of the King's Bench, replacing Sir John Bramston, who had been among those forced to remain in London. Heath continued to carry out his judicial duties through the difficult years that followed, in York and then later in Oxford. He remained in his office whilst the royalist government remained viable, but was finally impeached in November 1645.

Remaining in Oxford until its surrender in June 1646, Heath later fled England for the continent with his family. Embarking at Calais they travelled first to Paris and then on to join Charles II at St. Germain, writing later 'I doe not call it an exile, because I made choice to desire it, rather than live suspected' (Heath Papers, Compton-Verney book, no. 65). After more than two years he returned to Calais, though his health was suffering, and he died there on 20υth August 1649.