Lot 26: NICHOLAS HILLIARD

PORTRAIT OF JAMES VI OF SCOTLAND, JAMES I OF ENGLAND (1566?1625)

4.2 by 3.4 cm.; 1 5/8 by 1 1/4 in.

watercolour heightened with gold and silver on vellum laid down on a playing card, later turned-wood frame

This previously unrecorded portrait of the king by Hilliard is one of only a handful of autograph works that are known today. Likely to have been painted in circa 1603, the miniature was executed within Hilliard's early years as the king's limner. James' clothing; the slashed doublet, lace-edged falling collar, the jewelled hat and the blue garter riband is consistent with the six recorded portrait miniatures of the king that have also been identified as dating from this period (see Sir Roy Strong, The English Renaissance Miniature, 1983, p.123).

The present miniature is unique amongst this group. Whereas in the other examples Hilliard depicts James 'on a relatively small scale... set far back from the viewer', here the king is placed intimately close to the spectator (see C. Lloyd and V. Remington, Masterpieces in Little, 1996, p. 78).

Hilliard's sparse treatment of the king's doublet signifies another departure from the rest of the group. A comparison of this lower area to that of James' facial features, which are both penetrating and sensitive, has led to speculation that the work may have been left unfinished. If this is the case it could be suggested that this miniature was taken directly from life and served as the experimental prototype from which Hilliard developed his first group of portraits of the new king. As James is known to have only sat to Hilliard on three occasions, this would suggest that the miniature is a pivotal work. As such it might be compared with Isaac Oliver's 1592 unfinished portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (Victoria and Albert Museum) or indeed Oliver's portrait of Prince Charles (Private Collection).