aJZgKak957

http://uploads6.wikiart.org/images/hans-holbein-the-younger/christina-of-denmark.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Anthonis_Mor_- _Queen_Mary_Tudor_of_England_-_WGA16178.jpg

H. Holbein. Christina of Denmark, Anthonis Mor. Queen Mary Tudor of England Ducchess of Milan

As Edward VI's reign advanced Holbein's influence was entirely superseded by that of Flemish painters. This reached its climax in Mary's reign when the great Anthonis Mor came to England and painted the magnificent portrait of the Queen of about 1554 that is now in the Prado, Madrid. This shows as a complete grasp of character as can be seen in any of Holbein's portraits. Mor, however, emphasises this with a stronger use of light and shade and aims altogether at more obvious realism (9).

A lesser Fleming, Hans Eworth, who was in England from 1545 to 1573, exemplifies the transition from Mary to Elizabeth. He imitated Mor at first, but later became like most Elizabethans more interested in clothes than in character. Elizabeth's own taste was a good deal responsible for these costume pieces. A French envoy declared that 'about three thousand dresses hung in her wardrobes.' The craze for costume pieces' was encouraged by the over-elaborate fashions prevalent in her reign (10).

51

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Mary1_by_Eworth_3.jpg/800p x-Mary1_by_Eworth_3.jpg

H. Eworth. Portrait of Mary I of England

Few of the many portraits of Elizabeth are of interest as revelations of character. Of the three in the Portrait Gallery, one is manifestly inferior; a second reveals something of Elizabeth's practical ability; while the third is really profound. The delicacy of the lighting upon the face shows how strongly portrait-painting even on a large scale was at this time allied to the art of miniature. The colour-scheme of pinks and silvers seems to harmonise with the mood of pathetic loneliness in the Queen's character which the painter has revealed (11).

Elizabethan portraits of varying style and merit abound, so do names of painters; but it is not easy to connect one with the other. This is partly due to the number of contemporary copies of one portrait, and also to the number of single portraits probably carried out by several hands. There were only a few studios- picture-manufactories - each managed by one of the leading painters of the day with many apprentices under him. So poses, dresses and even furniture were repeated ad nauseam. These cliques were further encouraged by intermarriages between the families of painters, and by laws allowing privileges only to a few

(12).

52

n

http://www.hoocher.com/Portraits_of_Elizabeth_I_of_England/Portraiture_of_Elizabeth_I_of _England.htm

Elizabeth I of England: ca: 1585-90 Elizabeth I by Steven Van Der Meulen

Elizabeth I as a Princess: ca 1550 by Levina Teerlinc

b) Nicolas Hilliard

But the greatest of Elizabethan portrait painters was the miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard (1537-1619). Born in Devon, he worked first at Exeter as a goldsmith - a training which never ceased to influence his art. Upon coming to London he was fascinated by Holbein's miniatures, upon which he consciously founded his own style. 'Holbein's manner of limning' he says in his treatise on that art 'I have imitated holding it to be the best.' Yet it would be a mistake to regard him merely as a weaker imitator of the great German. Certainly Holbein's miniature of Anne of Cleves surpasses any of Hilliard's works as a revelation of character both complex and charming. But both Holbein and Hilliard were continuing the traditions of English illumination. They worked in gum and water-colour upon vellum as the illuminators had done and aimed at the same brilliance of colour. It is not apparently known who was the illuminator who first thought of cutting out the piece of vellum, sticking it upon a card and having it framed; but this was no revolutionary step to take after the technique of painting a small portrait upon a page of vellum had once been developed (13).

53

http://en.wahooart.com/Art.nsf/O/8BWLT6/$File/Nicholas-Hilliard-Self-portrait.JPG

Self-portrait

Hilliard's miniature of Elizabeth retains, though faded, a charm of colour and is more believable as a record of character than most representations of the queen (14).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nicholas_Hilliard_(called)_- _Portrait_of_Queen_Elizabeth_I_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

Elizabeth I, the "Pelican" portrait, c. 1572 Elizabeth I, the "Phoenix" portrait, c. 1575

A much finer example of his work is his portrait of his father, Richard Hilliard. Though only about an inch high, it has been painted with such real affection as to reveal much of the sincerity and unconscious manly dignity of old Hilliard, who was High Sheriff of the County of Devon. Much as Nicholas has exulted in the decorative aspect of the curls of his father's hair and beard, drawing them crisply with twists of his tiny brush, he has also shown knowledge of their actual growth. The understanding of the head as a whole is shown among other things in the darkening shadows of the hair under the hat. Of

54

extreme delicacy are the little shadow at the corner of the eye and the pale half tone that explains the position of the cheek-bone. It is these truths of structure that constitute Hilliard's genius, though his decorative and technical gifts contribute greatly also to his charm. Colour and pattern he regarded as the enjoyable rewards that come after the drawing - comparing them with the gilding by a mason of a frieze, which he has previously constructed. The harmony of the Richard Hilliard portrait consists of a lovely scheme of golds and browns against the favourite background of pure ultramarine (15).

http://content.foto.mail.ru/mail/sunsan51/_blogs/i-864.jpg

The portrait of Richard Hilliard

Though Hilliard worked at a later period than Holbein, the spirit of his work was more mediaeval and less modern. Something of that romantic chivalrous spirit, which belongs to the poetry of Spenser and was the heritage of the past, lingers in Hilliard's work and in a lesser degree in that of his followers, the Olivers, who carried on the tradition into the seventeenth century. The aim of such miniatures and of some larger portraits allied to them is well explained in Hilliard's treatise. He says 'The principal parts of Painting or Drawing after the life consisteth in truth of lyne,' and 'the lyne without shadowe showeth all to good Judgment, but the shadowe without lyne showeth nothing.' (16)

(Abridged from Ch. Johnson "English Painting from the Seventh Century to the Present Day" http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook/English_Painting_from_the_Seventh_Century_to_t he_Present_Day)

2. Find words and expressions with similar meanings in the text, give their Russian equivalents:

1.to ascend the throne (1)

2.mediocre (1)

3.competitor (1)

4.a king or queen (2)

5.a characteristic, distinctive impression or quality (2)

55

6.to be finished (4)

7.to be performed (4)

8.primness (5)

9.compatible with (5)

10.pertaining to the church (5)

11.dead members of the royal family (5)

12.decorated with floral designs (6)

13.remarkable (7)

14.to hire smb (7)

15.to match (7)

16.an impartial record (7)

17.inner (7)

18.to be completely shown (7)

19.severe or strict in manner or attitude (7)

20.sketches (8)

21.skillful (8)

22.of a high quality (8)

23.thoroughly (8)

24.a stout build or stately, lofty appearance (8)

25.to be displaced (9)

26.a full understanding of the sitter (9)

27.to draw special attention to smth. (9)

28.to copy (10)

29.predominant (10)

30.obviously lower in quality (11)

31.deep (11)

32.accuracy of perception; sensitiveness (11)

33.to be connected (11)

34.in large numbers or amounts (12)

35.to be done (about a portrait) (12)

36.pupils (12)

37.a small group (12)

38.to be charmed by (13)

39.a manner of painting (13)

40.to exceed; be greater than (13)

41.the quality of being free from pretense, deceit, or hypocrisy (15) 42.a sense of pride in oneself; self-respect (15)

43.gift, talent (15)

44.mood (16)

45.courteous and gallant (16)

46.to remain (16)

47.a supporter, disciple (16)

3. Comment on the parts of the text highlighted in yellow.

56

4. Answer the questions to the text:

1.In 1485 when Henry VII came to the throne, English painting had become almost a lost art because:

a)the nobles stopped patronizing it;

b)Henry VII and his successors preferred foreigners to English artists;

c)the Protestants forbade painting at all.

2.The only great painters who visited England in the sixteenth century were: a) Van Dyck and Lily;

b) Holbein and Anthonis Mor; c) Wilson and Kneller.

3.Though many English painters imitated foreigners, English technical traditions were not totally forgotten as:

a)the practice of decorating the walls of a room with a series of portraits was still in fashion;

b)some traditions of the art of illumination survived;

c)English painters preferred to paint the members of the royal family.

4.No painter in history has equalled Holbein in: a) the number of assistants;

b) his influence on the evolution of English portraiture;

c) the revelation of all the sitters' smallest peculiarities combined with an instinct for linear design.

5.The main difference between Mor's and Holbein's styles of painting lies in:

a)a complete grasp of character of the sitter;

b)a stronger use of light and shade aiming at more obvious realism;

c)an interest to clothes and accessories more than to character.

6. Numerous Elizabethan portraits are often not easy to connect with a particular master because of:

a) the existence of a lot of studios-picture-manufactories managed by one of the leading painters;

b) the number of contemporary copies of one portrait and the number of single portraits probably carried out by several hands;

c) intermarriages between the families of painters. 7. Nicolas Hilliard was originally trained as a;

a)goldsmith;

b)landscape painter;

c)engraver.

8. Hilliard was deeply influenced by the works of:

a)Anthonis Mor;

b)Van Dyck;

c)Holbein.

57

9.The traditions of English illumination was continued in the miniatures by Holbein and Hilliard as both painters:

a)preferred to make portraits of the royal family;

b)worked in gum and water-colour upon vellum and aimed at the same brilliance of colour;

c)used a very special colour scheme.

10.The essence of Hilliard's genius that can be observed in his portrait of his father, Richard Hilliard can be defined as:

a)an unusual interpretation of the decorative aspect of the curls of his father's hair and beard,

b)the understanding of the head as a whole: a decorative aspect and a deep interpretation of the sitter's character;

c)the technical aspect of the work.

11.Hilliard's traditions of painting was:

a)lost and forgotten in the 17th century;

b)was old-fashioned and mediaeval for the artists of the 17th century;

c)was carried on to the 17th century by his followers.

Part IV.

1. Read the text below and complete the tasks that follow.

Portraits: STUART

On the accession of James I in 1603, there was no immediate change in the character of English painting. But at that time on the Continent new tendencies were beginning, which were ultimately to affect England also. A sketch therefore of the European position is apposite. Italy's greatest days were over. Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese, the three great Venetian masters of colour and of oil-technique, were all dead. But their works were being eagerly studied by the Fleming Rubens and were soon to educate his compatriot Van Dyck as well as the Spaniard Velazquez, each of whom applied what they had learned from them in different ways. Velazquez took technical hints from Veronese and from Tintoretto, and became a greater realist than either. Rubens owed much to all three Venetians, but invented a new technique to express his own boisterous personality (1).

Van Dyck followed the Venetians most closely but remained a Fleming in spirit. The Flemings were courtiers, not aristocrats; a fact partly due to their position as subjects under alien rule. So Van Dyck with all his love of high breeding never gave his sitters quite that air of unselfconscious dignity that belongs to the portraits of Titian. The Dutch meanwhile were setting up their own Republic a Protestant and democratic community. In their portraits, they made no attempt at giving their sitters aristocratic airs, but rather at revealing their character (2).

At the same time in England a more purely English tradition was being continued. The most typical portraits tended to reveal a gentle undemonstrative

58

refinement a mood reflected in the works of Hilliard himself and of his followers in miniature, Isaac Oliver (1564-1617) and Isaac's son Peter Oliver (1594-1648) both painters of technical if derivative proficiency (3).

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Portrait_of_a_Young_Gentlem an

I. Oliver.Portrait of a Young Gentleman

John Hoskins (c. 1600-1664) applied to miniature new methods and a looser freer handling borrowed from the full-sized portraits of Van Dyck. Hoskins in the miniature at Windsor has revealed the complete character of the king (4).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HenriettaMariavonFrankreich.jpg

J. Hoskins. Henrietta Maria of France

Samuel Cooper (1609-1672) carried his uncle's freedom further, completely abandoning Hilliard's method in favour of the use of loose brush strokes which are quite visible in the shading of his faces, but most noticeable in his management of hair. His miniature of the young Monmouth (at Windsor) shows how subtly and charmingly he could model. But Cooper's gifts were more facile than sound, and, as is proved by his notorious inability to draw the hand, his hold upon structure was insecure. Though he was called 'the Prince of Miniaturists,' his work really rings the death-knell of the old school of English miniature - an art, which as Hilliard knew, should be something other than fullsized portraiture reduced in scale (5).

59

The history of portraiture in England in the seventeenth century is mostly a history of English painters with little technical assurance, who yet succeeded in the revelation of character and of foreign painters of great technical skill who sometimes failed in the more subtle requirements of sympathetic penetration. There were shades of penetration that were beyond even the genius of Van Dyck (6).

The periods of English seventeenth century painting can be divided into four groups. The first of these, which belongs mainly to the reign of James I, he calls 'Archaic or Jacobean.' A leader of this group was Marc Gheeraedts the younger (1561-1635), two of whose father's works have already been mentioned. The younger Gheeraedts was born in Bruges, but at the age of seven had come to England, where he remained the greater part of his life. He was often called 'Garrard' or 'Garret' and may be regarded as an Englishman. His evident enjoyment in painting details with accuracy and the delicacy of the lighting in his portraits show that he had acquired much of the tradition of English miniature and make it probable that he began his training as a miniaturist. Garrard's portraits of women and of children usually bring out the shy and gentle aspect of their characters, while his men tend to be poetical and almost feminine (7).

Charming examples are the boy Prince Henry (Ditchley) and Elizabeth Cherry, Lady Russell (Woburn). The Countess of Pembroke is more practical but equally refined in expression; her portrait illustrates Garrard's use of pale half tones in the modelling of a head and also his power of surrounding it with atmosphere. Delicacy of lighting and of detail and unobtrusive refinement of expression are characteristics of the 'archaic' painters (8).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Queen_Elizabeth_I_(%27The_Ditchley_portrait%27)_by_ Marcus_Gheeraerts_the_Younger.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gheeraerts_Robert_Devereux_1596.jpg

M. Gheeraedts. Queen Elizabeth I, the Ditchley Portrait, c. 1592 Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, 1596

The second group is described as 'Romantic or Carolean'; these divisions being no more than broad generalisations of the tendencies of the times. It may be noted however that the epithets apply both to the technique and to the

60