Description
It is difficult to overstate the singularity of this work in 17th-century England. While the image has visual sources in works by Rubens and Federico Barocci, surely known to the cosmopolitan artist (who travelled to Italy, unusually for English artists at this moment), the object is iconographically unique. Oliver places a tender Virgin and Child (itself more closely linked to Catholic instead of Protestant imagery), in a heavenly, visionary setting, and incorporates the medieval iconography of the lactating Virgin with the Salvator Mundi, early Netherlandish in origin, but more commonly an Italian typology by the early seventeenth century.
Provenance
Possibly commissioned by Queen Anne of Denmark (1574-1619), possibly by inheritance to her godson, Henry, 15th Earl of Arundel (c.1602 ); Possibly Henry, 15th Earl of Arundel, by gift to his son Henry Howard (c. 1619 ); Henry Howard, 1628-1684, and his wife Lady Anne Mary Howard, 1631 - 1662 (1653 ); Private collection (sold, Christie's, London, July 21, 1944, lot 22, to A. Rofe (-1944 ); A. Rofe (sold, Sotheby's, November 18, 1959, lot 16, through David Carritt to Max Aitken) (1944 ); Max Aitken, 1st Lord Beaverbrook, upon his death, transferred to the Beaverbrook Foundation (1959 ); Beaverbrook Foundation (unsold, Sotheby's, New York, January 26, 2011, lot 517) (1964 ); The Cleveland Museum of Art (2011 ); Possibly painted for Queen Anne of Denmark (1574-1619);; possibly by descent to her godson Henry, 15th Earl of Arundel,; by whom given to his son Henry Howard (1628-1684) and recorded in the collection of his wife Lady Anne Mary Howard (1631-1662) by 1653;; sale, London, Christie's, 21 July 1944, lot 22;; A. Rofe,; his sale, London, Sotheby's, 18 November 1959, lot 16, to David Carritt on behalf of Max Aitken, 1st Lord Beaverbrook (1879-1964);; thence by descent to the present owner
Accession Number
2011.2
Medium
gouache and watercolor, heightened with gum arabic, with shell gold framing lines, on vellum, mounted on paper, vellum, and wood
Dimensions
Framed: 27.5 x 20.5 cm (10 13/16 x 8 1/16 in.)
Classification
Portrait Miniature
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund