mm THE MINIATURE COLLECTOR A GUIDE TO COLLECTORS OF OLD PORTRAIT MINIATURES THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES THE MINIATURE COLLECTOR THE MINIATURE COLLECTOR A GUIDE FOR THE AMATEUR COLLECTOR OF PORTRAIT MINL\TURES BY DR. GEORGE C. WILLIAMSON HERBERT JENKINS LIMITED 3 YORK STREET SAINT JAMES'S LONDON S.W.I MCMXXI N.B.—The copyright of all the illustrations used in this book is strictly reserved by the author oa behalf of the respcctire owners of the miniatures. Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner, Frome and London f/ 7616 Q PREFACE SOME apology is surely needed from me, for inflicting yet another book about miniatures upon a long- suffering public ; but I hope that this latest work may fill the position that is at the moment vacant/ and may supply information that is needed. My chief excuse for it consists in the fact that new material bearing on this, my special subject, is constantly being discovered, and I have here endeavoured—to use a familiar expression—to bring the science up to date. Investigations in archives and records quite often bring to light new facts about miniature painters and their doings, and as an example, there is information in this book concerning Nicholas HiUiard and the gold mines of Scotland, in which he is actu- ally described as Queen EHzabeth's portrait painter, that has only been brought before the pubhc notice in the Rhind lectures delivered by Mr. Warrach during the past few months, having hitherto been buried in the dry pages of a scarce reprint (issued in 1815) of a precious Elizabethan document. Of one miniature painter, who is here de- scribed, practically all the information given is new. It has been gleaned from his ledgers, which have lately come into my own possession, and I believe that the list of his sitters, which forms an appendix, may be found of service in identifying many of his miniatures, which at present are ^ " How to Identify Protrait Miniatures " went out of print this year. vi PREFACE unknown, or have been wrongly attributed to some other artist. I have not hesitated to refer to some problems as to certain miniature painters, which still await solution, and I have given, I hope with impartiality, the arguments on either side, while I have not scrupled to declare to which I adhere. In the chapter on forgeries, I have, for the first time, put into cold print certain of the methods I have for years adopted in endeavouring to determine the authenti- city of the miniatures that have been submitted to me, and I have gone, at some length, into an account of the pigments used by the various artists and of the methods that can be adopted for their identification. It has seemed to me to be right that the material that after many years of experience I have been able to gather together for my own use, should be placed at the disposal of others, especi- ally as one is unable to hand on purely personal experience or insight and can only assist the collector in coming to an opinion for himself. In the Bibliography, I have adopted a somewhat different plan from that I have used in other books, and have given some information as to the importance, or contents, of the books in question, to guide any future purchasers. Above all, it has been my desire, in accordance with the wish of the editor of this series, to make the book one of practical value, to give the information in simple language, avoiding as far as possible, technicahties, or the jargon of a collector, and thus to produce a work which will be useful, I venture to hope, to the person commencing to collect, and will yet not be scorned by those who already own a collec- tion, and desire to know more about the artists who were responsible for their treasures. The illustrations have been selected in order to give a good idea of the work of the different artists. Many of them have not appeared hitherto in any work on miniatures, and I am greatly indebted to the various owTiers, whose PREFACE vii names appear on the plates, for permission to make use of the choice examples from their collections which are here reproduced. Others are taken from costly and privately printed works, or from books that are now out of print, and the aim has been to present in chronological sequence the works of all the noted miniature painters and to show in most cases representative examples. My very hearty thanks are accorded to my friends Dr. Martin Onslow Forster, F.R.S., and Dr. Laing, and to my son Mr. Cuthbert A. Williamson for their kindness in reading my proofs and making many valuable suggestions concerning them. If I have succeeded in being of some service to those who devote their attention to this dehghtful branch of portraiture in the study of which I have laboured for so many years I shall feel amply rewarded and the purpose of this book will have been achieved. GEORGE C. WILLIAMSON. Burgh House, Hampstead, London, May, 1920. CONTENTS HAPTER PAGE PREFACE V LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - - xi I, THE ORIGIN OF THE ART - - - - 3 II. HANS HOLBEIN AND THE EARLIEST PAINTERS IN MINIATURE - . 8 III. NICHOLAS AND LAWRENCE HILLIARD - - I9 IV. THE OLIVERS 37 V. JOHN HOSKINS AND HIS SON - - - 47 VI. SAMUEL COOPER 58 VII. THE INTERREGNUM 80 VIII. RICHARD COSWAY, R.A. - - - - 103 IX. ANDREW AND NATHANIEL PLIMER - - I16 X, GEORGE ENGLEHEART - - - - 123 XI. JOHN SMART I3I XII. OZIAS HUMPHRY, R.A. 147 XIII. WILLIAM WOOD I56 XIV. THE LESSER MEN OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 174 XV. THE END OF THE STORY - - - - 182 XVI. THE MINIATURE PAINTERS IN ENAMEL - iS/ ix CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XVII. SOME FOREIGN MINIATURE PAINTERS - - 200 XVIII. PLUMBAGO DRAWINGS . - - - 205 XIX. THE COLLECTOR 2l6 XX. COLLECTIONS AND COLLECTORS - - - 232 XXI. FORGERIES ------ 243 XXII. THE AMERICAN MINIATURE PAINTERS - - 254 XXIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY 263 Appendix : Complete List of all the persons who sat for their portraits to William Wood, 1768-1809, extracted from his private ledgers and never before published ----- 275 INDEX 295 xii THE MINIATURE COLLECTOR CHAPTER I THE ORIGIN OF THE ART is unnecessary, and not even desirable, in a handbook IT of this kind, which has to deal with portrait minia- tures, that lengthy reference should be made to the art of preparing illuminated manuscripts, even though the use of the word miniature was originally applied to the paintings in these MSS., and is still used more or less in the same connection. The student may perhaps be puzzled at the very outset by noting the existence of Bradley's " Dictionary of Miniaturists," and finding that none of the artists alluded to in this volume are referred to in that Dictionary, but he will then understand that the book in question has to deal with the miniaturists, painters, illuminators and caligraphcrs who were responsible for the illuminated MSS. of early days, and not with those who are now usually termed Painters oj portraits in miniatttre. The very word miniature offers the first problem for solu- tion. There is little doubt that it was derived from the '' Latin mj;n«m, vermilion, the colour used for the heading i[/ and initial letters of these MSS., in which small pictorial 7 scenes were introduced. The original meaning of this was afterwards expressed by the term lubrication, and then the word miniature became applied to the illuminations in the 3 — THE MINIATURE COLLECTOR MS., rather than to the decoration in red lines which surrounded them ; but, after a while, owing to the small dimensions of the work, the word became associated with the French word mignatnre, and so gradually was used with regard to paintings in little, which are with greater accuracy to be spoken of as " limnings." In process of time, the word has really lost its original meaning, and we now speak of a miniature bookcase, or miniature books, or of any object which is of small proportions, and we use the word miniature as an adjective to qualify it, and to express the sense that it is an exceedingly small example of its class. It is not easy to adopt a definition that will be simple and accurate for what we now call a miniature, perhaps the easiest way is to speak of a miniature as a portrait that can be held in one hand. It may perhaps be no bigger than the thumb-nail, it may perchance be as large as the palm of the hand, or even larger, but it must be a portable portrait, one that can be easily held and examined closely. It would be better, undoubtedly, if the use of the old word " limning " had survived. John Crowne's " Country Wit," a favourite play with Charles II. published in 1675, and acted with applause at the Duke's Theatre, in the course of a conversation between two persons styled " Merry " and " Ramble " gives these lines : Merry : Cannot you limne, Sir ? Ramble : Limne ! What dost thou mean ? Merry : Why limne. Sir, draw pictures in little. The word su^^dved well into Stuart or even the beginning of Hanoverian, times. King Charles's collection was called " The King's collection of limnings." In an appointment to Queen Anne the miniature painter was styled " Limner to the Queen," and certain documents of the reign of George I. speak of limnings being executed by the King's painters. Pepys speaks of " paintings in little," and this is also a THE ORIGIN OF THE ART suitable phrase to apply to these small portraits, although perhaps an awkward one.