Lot 517: ISAAC OLIVER

ISAAC OLIVER ROUEN CIRCA 1556-1617 LONDON MADONNA AND CHILD IN GLORY Gouache and watercolor, heightened with gum arabic, within gold framing lines, on vellum laid down on panel; signed with monogram in gold, lower right: IO 10 in by 8in 276 by 203 mm; 10 7/8 by 8 in

Martin Hardie, Miniaturia, London 1919, p. 55;
Beaverbrook Art Gallery Advertisement, The Atlantic Advocate, vol. 53, no. 9, May 1963, (reproduced p. 8);
Jill Finsten, Isaac Oliver, London 1981, p. 122, no. 79;
Roy Strong, The English Renaissance Miniature, London 1983, p. 175, pl. 228;
Roy Strong, Artists of the Tudor Court, Portrait Miniatures Rediscovered, 1520-1620, London 1983, p. 115, no. 179;
Lindsay Stainton and Christopher White, Drawings in England from Hilliard to Hogarth, exhib. cat., London, British Museum, 1987, p. 48;
Edward Norgate, Miniatura or The Art of Limning, Edited by J. Murrell and Jeffrey M. Muller, London 1997, p. 90;
Ian G. Lumsden, The Beaverbrook Art Gallery Collection – Selected Works, Fredericton 2000, p. 36, reproduced p. 48

Possibly painted for Queen Anne of Denmark (1574-1619);
possibly by descent to her godson Henry, 15υth Earl of Arundel,
by whom given to his son Henry Howard (1628-1684) and recorded in the collection of his wife Lady Anne Mary Howard (1631-1662) by 1653;
sale, London, Christie's, 21 July 1944, lot 22;
A. Rofe,
his sale, London, Sotheby's, 18 November 1959, lot 16, to David Carritt on behalf of Max Aitken, 1υst Lord Beaverbrook (1879-1964);
thence by descent to the present owner

Last seen on the market over fifty years ago the present work with its beautifully modelled figures, strong colouring and large size, is an exceptionally rare survival from Oliver's known oeuvre. Its re-emergence provides what is likely to be a unique opportunity to acquire a highly finished 'cabinet miniature' by Isaac Oliver.

Contemporaries of the artist echoed Vasari's praise of Giulio Clovio (1498-1578), by referring to him as a 'Michelangelo in little'.υ1 Today this admiration may seem surprising as he is more readily identified for his masterly portrait miniatures than his larger-scale figural compositions of religious, mythological or historical subjects. Nonetheless there are surviving works that indicate Oliver's immense talent for these subjects. These include the Head of Christ (Victoria & Albert Museum), The Prodigal Son (The Portland Collection) and a drawing of Moses Striking the Rock (Royal Collection), of which only the last is of comparable size to the present work. In his will Oliver indicated that there were other such works when he bequeathed 'all [his] drawings already finished and unfinished and limning pictures, be they histories, stories, or anything of limning whatsoever of my owne [sic] hand...' to his son Peter Oliver (1594-1647).υ2 An Entombment of Christ was later completed by his son (Museé d'Angers, France).

Oliver's background and early experiences ensured that he was a truly international artist, exposed to a wide variety of influences. Born in Rouen the son of French Huguenot parents, his family fled to England in 1568. By circa 1580 he had entered the studio of Nicholas Hilliard, the leading portrait miniaturist of the Elizabethan court, where he was to remain for seven years. Unusually for an artist working in England at that time, Oliver travelled aboard to study contemporary developments in the arts. In 1596 he travelled to Venice, and greatly admired North Italian artists including Titian, Veronese and Barocci. In 1602 he was back in England and he married Sara Gheeraerts, the daughter of the painter Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder (1520-1590), indicating how closely associated he was with the Anglo-Flemish School.

In the present Madonna and Child, Oliver has created a highly-finished work, employing the greatest sensitivity and immaculate attention to detail. Although he may have been influenced by Italian and Flemish artists he appears to have created a composition of his own construction. This individuality of design is not unusual in Oliver's oeuvre and may also be seen in his compositions for Moses Striking the Rock and The Entombment of Christ, mentioned above. Works such as these provided a catalyst for a new genre of miniature painting which was further developed by Peter Oliver, later termed, the 'cabinet miniature'.

Edward Norgate (1581-1650) quite possibly referred to the present work when he wrote of 'a Madonna of Mr Oliver's [that] cost him two years [of his life]'.υ3 This miniature was conceived within the context of the English Royal Court. In 1605 Oliver had been appointed 'Painter for the Art of Limning' to King James I's Queen, Anne of Denmark (1574-1619) and he also later received payments for work executed for Prince Henry, Prince of Wales (1594-1612) in 1608/9. Unfortunately, no documentation survives that could prove that the present work was a Royal commission, but Oliver may have had the Queen in mind as a potential patron as her crypto-catholic tastes were well known.

Peter Oliver made a copy of the present work which, since the time of George III, has been in the Royal Collection.υ4 This is of particular interest as the early history of this Madonna and Child is not clear. The survival of Peter's copy perhaps indicates that it remained in Oliver's studio until his death in 1617. Richard Symonds more than likely refers to this work in 1653 when he recorded a Madonna and Child by Isaac Oliver in the collection of Lady Anne Mary Howard (1631-1662).υ5 The eldest daughter of Edward Somerset, 2υnd Marquess of Worcester, Lady Anne was the wife of Henry Howard (1628-1684). Her father-in-law was Henry, 15υth Earl of Arundel who was godson to Queen Anne, while her great-grandfather was Edward Somerset, 4υth Earl of Worcester and Master of the Horse to King James I. It is not inconceivable that the work was commissioned by Queen Anne and through her descended to her godson and his heirs and therefore was owned by Lady Anne Mary Howard.

We are grateful to Graham Reynolds for confirming his thoughts on this work based upon first hand inspection.

1. G. Reynolds, English Portrait Miniatures, Cambridge 1988, p. 29
2. D. Foskett, A Dictionary of British Miniature Painters, vol. 1, London 1977, p. 428
3. E. Norgate, op. cit., p. 90
4. A.P. Oppé, English Drawings Stuart and Georgian Periods in the Collection of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle, London 1951, no. 470, p. 80
5. E. Norgate, op. cit. p. 70