© National Portrait Gallery
Miniature portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh
Artist: Nicholas Hilliard (1547 - 1618)
Location: National Portrait Gallery
Date: circa 1581 - 1584
Materials: watercolour on vellum
Dimensions: 4.8 x 4.1cm
Grant:
Amount Paid: £2,000 (Total: £5,000)
Vendor: Sotheby's
Review number: 1962 (1959)
Provenance:
From the collections of the Howard family (Earls of Carlisle) and Viscount Morpeth.
Description:
The military and naval commander Walter Raleigh, was a favourite of Elizabeth I. He was knighted in 1584 which may have been when this portrait miniature was commissioned and it seems to be the earliest likeness of him to survive. He is depicted wearing a small, decorated black cap and large circular ruff. This costume is French in style. In its elegance and delicacy, it ranks among the Hilliard's most outstanding works and testifies to the claim he made in his treatise on art, the Arte of Limning (c.1600), that 'the perfection of painting is to imitate the face of mankind'.
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