George Jamesone, the Scottish Vandyck
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.ONE ? • I ) I J OHN BULLOCH Ca NationalillLibrary of Scotland •B000098145* GEORGE JAMESONE HIS LIFE AND WORKS / — " Le Genie, est la premiere chose que Ton doit supposer dans un peintre. C'est une partie qui ne pent s'acquerir ni par l'etude, ni par le travail ; il faut qu'il soit grand pour repondre a l'etendue d'un Art qui renferme autant de connoissances que la peinture, & qui exige beaucoup de tems & d' applications pour les acquerir." De Piles (171 5). " I paint the living and they make me live." Kneller, " To saunter through the portrait gallery [at Clarencieux] and hear dealers appraise the Lelys and the Lawrences, the Vandykes and the Jamesones this was Trevenna's paradise."— Otiida, in " Chandos." Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from National Library of Scotland http://www.archive.org/details/georgejamesonesc1885bull I 1 GEORGE JAMESONE THE SCOTTISH VANDVCK BY JOHN BULLOCH WITH TWO ILLUSTRATIONS BY GEORGE RE ID, R.S.A. j EDINBURGH: DAVID DOUGLAS 1885 250 Copies printed. No. ^W»«i 9 ? <*>r * ; TO CHARLES ELPHINSTONE DALRYMPLE, ESQUIRE, F.S.A., SCOT., TO WHOM CHIEFLY BELONGS THE HONOUR OF BRINGING TOGETHER THAT INSPIRING COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL PORTRAITS EXHIBITED AT THE MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT ABERDEEN IN 1859, AND CONSPICUOUS AMONG WHICH WAS THE FIRST CONSIDERABLE GROUP OF GEORGE JAMESONE'S WORKS EVER SHOWN TO THE PUBLIC, 3 inscribe tbis Booh WITH THE SURE CONVICTION THAT OF ALL MY MANY KIND HELPERS NOT ONE WILL GRUDGE HIM THIS REPRESENTATIVE PLACE. CONTENTS. PAGE. Preface ---------- 9 • Chapter I. — Introductory ' Chapter II— State of Society at Jamesone's Birth - - - 20 Chapter III.—His Family Connections 24 Chapter IV-— His Education .-.--- 36 Chapter V.—Study at Antwerp .----- 47 Chapter VI.— Establishes his Reputation, 1620-1630 - - - Si Chapter VII.—Foreign Travel, &c. 76 Chapter VIII.— His Closing Years 96 Chapter IX.—General Remarks - 108 George Jamesone's Signature I '4 Catalogue of his Works so far as well Authenticated— 1885 - 115 Appendix ....--- - - 187 T Index, - - - - 95 ERRATA. Page 54, 12th line from foot, after Urquhart insert Tutor. Page 106, 15th and 19th lines from foot, for Helen read Mary. Page 106, 14th, and page 170, nth line from foot, for Kincorth read Tillycorthie. PREFACE A T this, the last stage of my work, it is less necessary to state the motives which led to my undertaking the respon- sibility of adding one book more to our already groaning shelves, than to explain why I have taxed so severely the patience of my subscribers by its long delay. When about to proceed to press, two years ago, the fortunate discovery of some serious mistakes as to the genuineness of a few of the pictures I had tabulated, led at once to the resolve, that, with growing knowledge of them, I ought to pass under my personal review the whole series— both those I had seen before and those I had never seen at all, but had^ taken on trust. In a matter like this, authenticity was of the first importance, although to gain it involved vexatious delay. A secondary but not unimportant advantage has, I trust, been gained by my efforts to acquire a more perfect knowledge of Jamesone's works. His own somewhat conjectural life becomes thereby more rounded and better understood. His personality and power, which refused to develop themselves to uninformed eulogisms, stand confessed in the light of his numerous works. I hope these advantages may be held to compensate for the delay. In the course of the work there have not been wanting voices warning me off the field as a barren one, not likely to yield any reasonable fruitage. But these have been quite out- io George Jamesone. numbered, not only by words of encouragement, but by deeds of helpfulness. Seldom has author been so helped, and it becomes at once a duty and a pleasure to express my deep obligations to all who have aided me so willingly. Specially am I bound to return my grateful thanks to the noblemen, ladies and gentlemen, who possess Jamesone's pictures, for the extreme readiness with which they granted me permission to inspect those works ; and but for whose courteous co-operation the execution of the Catalogue in its present form could not have been accomplished. If it is not so complete as I could desire, the blame is largely mine. To my late friend, Andrew Gibb, Esq., F.S.A., Scot., I am indebted for kind encouragement and direction. Of his large resources of information I was ever made a welcome sharer. To Charles Elphinstone Dalrymple, Esq., John F. White, Esq., and William Alexander, Esq., I am under much indebted- ness for counsel, information, and wholesome criticism ; as also to George Reid, Esq., R.S.A., whose practical aid is conspicuous in the two illustrations which so greatly enhance the value of the volume. It does not take much authorship to learn that a book is not a finality, and conscious of many defects in this humble con- tribution to the history of early Scottish art, as exemplified in "Jamesone, who burst forth at once with meridian splendour," I now commit it to public judgment. JOHN BULLOCH. Aberdeen, 16//1 April, 1885. — GEORGE JAMESONE, THE SCOTTISH VANDYCK. CHAPTER I. Jntro&uctory. AVERY brief sketch of the graphic arts in Scotland, before the dawn of the 17th century, may fittingly introduce a biography of GEORGE JAMESONE, her first native artist, worthy of the name. Early traces of painting in Scotland are very rare. This is not to be wondered at, when we remember that the struggle for bare subsist- ence was so engrossing. It was a hard life, and men had little inclina- tion and less encouragement, being so far removed from the stimulating influence of the more civilised centres of population, to think much of the cultivation of the fine arts. John Barbour relates an incident in The Bruce which gives to Queen Margaret, wife of Malcolm Canmore, the credit of some knowledge of the art of delineation. It was at the time that Scotland was being invaded by the English, and its strongholds taken, that she prophesied, by means of a cartoon, the particular method by which Edinburgh Castle was to be overthrown, about 1080 : And off this taking that I mene Sanct Margaret, the gud haly queyne Wyst in hyr, throw reweling [revealing] Off him that knaws, and wate all thing. Therefore in sted of prophecy, Scho left a takyning rycht joly 12 George yamesone. That is yeit in till hyr chapele. Scho gert weile portray a castell, A leddre wp to the wall stahdand And a man wp thar apon climband. And a wrat outfit him, as auld men sais, In Frankis, Gardys wouys de Fransais. Here we have the portrayal very clearly specified, but the methods by which the royal limner executed her " takyning " (token, or intima- tion by sign) are not indicated. The result was probably a very primitive outline in monochrome. It may be noticed here that the scarcity of words relating to the art of painting is itself a proof of how little it was practised in Scotland in early times. At a later period the word depaynt came in, derived from the French dcpeindre, to paint. Amongst the few remains of ancient art left, it is now impossible to tell whether they are the work of native Scottish artists or of foreigners —although probably of the latter. Perhaps the very earliest specimen of portraiture extant occurs in an Anglo-Saxon MS., bearing the early date of 1159. The initial letter of this MS. is the letter M., drawn in the ecclesiastical form of two rounded compartments divided by an up- right line (]) + In one of these divisions there is a portrait of David I., the venerable founder of Kelso Abbey, and in the other of Malcolm IV., the reigning King, a lad of 17 years of age. "The portraits are supposed to have been done, in 1159, by one who had the appearance of the two [originals] fresh in his memory."* In the Trinity Hall of Aberdeen there is a painting of King William the Lion. The picture, as now beheld, was entirely repainted, in 17 15, by one White, at a sum " as cheap as possible, not exceeding 50s, sterling." The picture extends to the knees, and the King is repre- sented with a very curious helmet and a long white beard reaching to his waist. In his right hand he holds a book, and —in his left a long rod. Below the painting runs the following inscription : " St. William King of Scots, surnamed the Lyon, the first Founder of the Trinitie Friers at Aberdeen wher he had his Chapell the cheif place of retirement for his * Cosmo Innes's Sketches of Early Scottish History. 3 Introductory. 1 devotions. He reigned 49 yeers begining 1165, dyed at Striviling 1214 & was buried at Aberbrothick." Of course no real value attaches to this picture as determining the early condition of art. It can be held only as proving that at an early date portraiture was attempted. The renovator of the painting has been the destroyer of its artistic and archaeological value. There exists some very ancient painted panelling at Cullen House. It forms part of the ceiling of a room to which it has evidently been adapted, as the scenes represented appear to have been cut to allow the panels to fit their new position. On the back of one of the panels the date 1325 was discovered by a workman who was making some alterations a number of years ago.