The Lost Prince: Henry Stuart, National Portrait Gallery, London

27^th October 2012

I visited this exhibition on a Saturday afternoon after the monthly talk at the National Gallery on a painting by Ingres.  Having done the father at the NPG talk on 25^th October, I thought it was time to find out more about the son, elder brother to Charles I and also brother of Elizabeth Stuart- Winter Queen of Bohemia ( http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/elizabeth-stuart-winter-queen-of.html). 

I had heard one enthusiastic review on Radio 4 and a friend who had gone had said it was OK, some nice pictures but… I decided to go nonetheless and asked a friend to go round with me.  With a concession, the ticket cost £10 for the pair of us.

http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/the-lost-prince-the-life-and-death-of-henry-stuart/exhibition.php

The NPG has “gathered” a lot of material on the subject and short life of Henry Stuart, heir to the Scottish and English thrones and son of King James VI/I.  Some objects have been loaned by the Royal Collection, British Library and British Museum.  The exhibition has many large paintings by Robert Peake the Elder, of Prince Henry as he grew up and there is a well crafted portrait by Isaac Oliver, which was copied by others. 

The prince was born in Stirling and brought up there until after his father James VI ascended the English throne.  In moving to London the King had been careful to ensure that the son was trained in kingship and learned about arts and science, as it was deemed expedient for both a renaissance and warrior prince within his European peer group.  King James was no renaissance man, unlike King James IV of Scotland and even his grandfather King James V.  James VI/I is nevertheless credited with keeping the peace between Spain and England while ensuring that war was avoided at all costs. 

The Scottish Reformation had wiped out much of nascent art in a process which made the Bonfire of the Vanities seem like a Teddy Bears’ Picnic.  The exhibition has detailed examples of Prince Henry’s education and training to be a king and also fostering links with other states in Europe.  Through his sister there were close links with the Elector Palatine and the House of Orange with the warrior prince Maurits van Nassau (Maurice of Nassau) in the Northern Netherlands.  His mother was Anne of Denmark, the sister to King Christian.  For a teenager, he seems to have been precocious and his achievements, such as they were, have been imbued with those who die young- he died short of his 19^th birthday in 1612.  

Some of the exhibition panels have been quite well crafted and some of the documents and covers are “blown” up on the walls.  His wooden effigy is on display (minus the head) with a setting illustrating the Westminster Abbey life-size configuration on the wall above.  That said, many of the walls are otherwise bare.  In this regard, this exhibition compares unfavourably with the use of exhibition wall space as at, for example, the Catherine the Great Exhibition in Edinburgh, which included many representational devices as decorative panels.  While this show has more large scale enlargements than the British Library Illumination exhibition, there is no audio and the only video screen which I encountered appeared not to be working. 

In making these comparisons with two other exhibitions, I should add that I had the catalogues before I visited these two; I bought the Prince Henry catalogue in the shop after my visit and have had part of the essays read out.  There has been some debunking of a rather “over the top” book by Roy Strong and an essay by Malcolm Smuts suggests a more academic approach to the exhibition rather than seeing it as a showstopper.  (Catalogue details are as follows: The Lost Prince – the Life and Death of Henry Stuart by Catherine MacLeod, National Portrait Gallery, London, 2012 ISBN 978-1-85514-458-3)

The background music is a bit monotonous and given Henry’s support for the Arts and Masques, some more interesting music from the masques or composers at the time could have been played.  The displays of his armour and the sketches of the barriers and masques arranged by Inigo Jones are discernible on viewing. 

 

The pictures by Peake may not reach critical acclaim but they are simple enough to make out with some limited vision.  I lost a bit of the horse when Henry is shown with Robert Devereux in a stag hunt.  Otherwise the Peake portraits are brightly coloured and of the right size to be enjoyable.  Manuscripts are a possible problem area and you need someone to read out the content and labels. My friend was just about able to read some of the correspondence from the originals, though there are printed panels of some of the texts.  There seemed to be nothing to handle though if you are interested in his suits of armour (he was 14 at the time), the Wallace Museum has a handling area.

The merchandise is, however, worth a browse.  There are quill ballpoint pens for £1.50 and some of the knick knacks are worth handling, perhaps even buying for Christmas: velvet scarves, jewellery, pewter tankards and candlesticks, books and cards. 

If you are interested in Jacobean life, then this is a very good exhibition and adds much to what’s currently on offer on the topic in London such as the Shakespeare Exhibition at the British Museum and Timon of Athens at the National Theatre.  There is a beautiful bronze of a horse said to be coveted (Good King James Bible word) by his brother Charles.  The Letters Patent of his creation as Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester are on show and this is a timely reminder that not all Princes of Wales ever keep, let alone ascend, the throne. There is much to enjoy and doubtless this will launch many historical novels of the “What if Henry had become King?” type

The labels appear to be numberless and my friend wrote down some items of interest and has later matched them with the catalogue.  The catalogue numbers are not followed in the exhibition.  My viewing notes of the exhibition as it presented itself have had the catalogue number of the book (£25) added.  The order of the exhibition is not clear though the themes of the exhibition show the time line from birth to death, funeral and Henry being quickly forgotten.  The notes are as follows:

Cat 1. Prince Henry Frederick

Unidentified artist, 1596

Cat 11 Basilikon Doron

James VI of Scotland (later James I of England) , c1598
Ink on paper, bound in velvet with gold clasps

Cat 7 Prince Henry

Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger
c1603, oil on canvas
Portrait, age 9

Cat. 3 James VI of Scotland and I of England

John de Critz, the Elder
c1606

Cat 8 Princess Elizabeth, later Queen of Bohemia

Robert Peake, the Elder
c1603

Cat 9 Charles I, when Duke of York and Albany, 1600-1649

Robert Peake, the Elder
c1610

Cat 15 David Murray of Gorthy

Unidentified artist, 1603
 
Cat 14 Prince Henry with Robert Devereux, 3^rd Earl of Essex
Robert Peake, the Elder, c1605

Cat 27 Letters Patent of James I creating his son Henry Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester

Attributed to Isaac Oliver and two other unidentified hands, 1610
 
Cat 28 Prince Henry on Horseback
Robert Peake, the Elder
c1606-08?
(on loan from Parham House, Pulbourough, West Sussex)

Set and costume designs for Prince Henry’s Barriers

Inigo Jones, 1610

Cat 29 Prince Henry’s Armour for the Field, Tilt, Tourney and Barriers

Royal Armoury, Greenwich, under Jacob Halder
c1608
Suit of Armour at age 14

Cat 30 Prince Henry’s Armour

Dutch, c1608
Suit of Armour showing thistles, rose and fleur di lis

Cat 33 Henry, Prince of Wales

Isaac Oliver,
c1610-12
portrait used in exhibition’s flyer

Cat 47 Thomas, 2^nd Baron Vaux of Harrowden

Hans Holbein the Younger
c1533

Cat 48 Elizabeth Cheney, Lady Vaux

Hans Holbein the Younger
c1536

Cat 45 Henry, Prince of Wales

Robert Peake, the Elder
c1610
Portrait showing Henry not in martial pose
Can see hilt and rapier, left arm on hip

Cat 49 Boy Looking Through a Casement Window

Unknown Netherlandish artist, c1550-60

Cat 50 A Bearded Old Man with a Shell

Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt
oil on panel, c1606

Cat 58 Astronomiae Instaurate Mechanica

Tycho Brahe
1602

Cat 53 Pacing Horse, bronze

Pietro Tacca, after Giambologna (Jean Boulogne), c1600

Cat 52 Cesarine Venus
17^th Centry cast after a model by after Giambologna (Jean Boulogne)

Cat 65 John Smith’s map of Virginia

William Hole, 1612

Cat 60 Prince Henry

Robert Peake, the Elder
c1605-8
foot on shield.  This is the most interesting picture and shows a character emerging with a sense of movement. 

Wall panel of elegies

Very vivid
HP
Ich di fn
(ich dien on coat of arms)

Cat 80 Charles I, Duke of York

Robert Peake, the Elder
c1613

Cat 74 The Effigy of Henry, Prince of Wales

Richard Norris, 1612

Cat 82 Henry, Prince of Wales

Daniel Mytens after Isaac Oliver, 1628

Postscript

On reviewing the catalogue at home, I managed a cross-check with William Drummond of Hawthornden who wrote an elegy in 1613.  It was included in the show but I hadn’t noted it specifically.  Drummond wrote an elegy for Prince Henry titled “Tears of Meliades” (Teares on the Death of Moeliades).  This was one of the items in a case below the large expansion I noted.  However, I hadn’t noted Drummond’s work specifically, which according to the catalogue, was a 3^rd edition, printed by Andro Hart in Edinburgh in 1614.

The catalogue and the exhibition have proved useful in linking both portrait galleries in London and Edinburgh.  I was searching in the Scottish Portrait Gallery picture labels which Meg Faragher kindly sent me after my visit and there is a portrait of Drummond in Edinburgh.  The details are:

William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585 – 1649)

attributed to Abraham van Blijenberch
oil on panel, painted in 1612

This sensitive portrayal of the poet and historian William Drummond of Hawthornden is attributed to the little-known Netherlandish artist Abraham van Blijenberch. It is possibly one of only a few portraits he painted during a four-year stay in London.  Van Blijenberch painted other Scots, such as Charles I and Robert Kerr, 1^st Earl of Ancram.  This portrait shows the young and pensive Drummond in a fashionable black doublet and lace-edged standing collar.  It was painted in 1612, around the time Drummond wrote his famous elegy Tears on the Death of Meliades, which commemorated the death of King James’s elder son and heir, Henry, Prince of Wales.

PG 1096 bought in 1928

Elizabeth Stuart - Winter Queen of Bohemia: Portrait by Robert Peake

Update: 9th March, 2012

During the describing of the picture of Elizabeth Stuart in January, the National Portrait Gallery arranged for the photographer Anthony Luvera ( www.luvera.com and
Anthony_Luvera on Twitter ) to take photographs of the group.  Because of my hip problems, I was unable to attend the February description at the NPG and Esther Collins for me to have a sneak peek of some of the photographs which the NPG are planning to use on their website.  Many thanks to Anthony for snapping me in front of the portrait of Elizabeth Stuart.  This will give you an idea of the size of the portrait at the NPG.

*** end of update


The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London gave a talk for the visually impaired on a portrait of Elizabeth Stuart by Robert Peake.  (http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/event-root/january-2012/picture-description-portrait-of-elizabeth-queen-of-bohemia-26jan12.php )

Professor Whitestick meets Elizabeth Stuart at the NPG

(courtesy Anthony Luvera)

Elizabeth Stuart (19 August 1596 – 13 February 1662) was born in Falkland Palace in Fife, Scotland.  Falkland Palace is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland and is well worth a visit as it is not far from Dunfermline and Edinburgh. 

Elizabeth was born to James VI of Scotland and his wife Anne of Denmark so making her a princess in Scotland.  When her father became James I of England after the union of Crowns in 1603, the family moved from Scotland to London.  Her brother Prince Henry was the heir apparent, though died of typhoid and her other brother Charles became king on the death of King James I. 

The painting is life size and shows Elizabeth at age 14 and in the status of an English princess dressed in the Jacobean style of the time.  More information on the portrait can be found on:

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait.php?search=ap&npgno=6113

and an enlarged copy of the portrait can be seen on:

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw08140/Elizabeth-Queen-of-Bohemia?search=ap&npgno=6113

The audio description of the painting was given by Lesley and there were about 5 visually impaired people and several visitors.  The painting is in Room 4, which also has paintings of James I and Shakespeare in it. 

Elizabeth takes up all of the length of the painting and the triangle base covers most of the width with her two feet just showing beneath a raised skirt.  Her dress is predominantly shimmering cream silk forming the triangle from head to toes.  There are vertical lines with the skirt.  Part of the Jacobean costume involved the skirt being draped round a farthingale.  A farthingale is a form of corsetry using ‘whalebone’ made from the jaws of a baleen whale, a toothless whale which filters food from water.  The skirt is draped over the farthingale giving the impression of the wearer gliding over a floor.  In the portrait, Elizabeth’s feet can just about be seen when I moved close to the actual painting in the gallery.

Lesley described Elizabeth’s complexion as fair with rosy cheeks and lips probably coloured with cochineal.  Her hair is raised in what could be described as a bouffant or beehive look.  Her forehead appears to be higher due to some of her hair being plucked as was the fashion at the time.  She’s wearing jewels in her hair with a coronet tiara.  There is also a double ruff round her neck.

She is said to have inherited her good looks from her mother and not from the Stuart side of the family!  She has blue eyes, almond shaped, and a fine nose, unlike the Stuarts who had round fat noses and droopy eyes.  She is shown with her hands resting on the farthingale with long fingers and standing on a Turkish carpet; Turkish carpets were fashionable at the time in London.  To her left is a Chair of Estate which indicated her rank as a royal princess of England. 

However, being a princess in a Protestant country her marriage opportunities were limited to non-Catholics, so many of the European households were ineligible.  She was betrothed and married to Fredrick V, who was Elector of the Palatinate in Germany.  Apparently, she did not think much of German culture at the time, being versed in French court protocol in much the same way as her grandmother, Mary Queen of Scots had been.  As a child, Elizabeth was raised to become a queen consort under the guidance of a Scottish noble family at Linlithgow prior to moving to London. 

In the early 17^th century her marriage would have been the start of a new life with little expectation of returning to London.  Although the marriage was a happy one, it turned out to be unlucky for her as Frederick was chosen to be King of Bohemia, when the Czechs decided to decline the nomination of the Hapsburg emperor for their king.  Elizabeth became known as the Winter Queen of Bohemia and gave birth to Prince Rupert just as the religious wars in Europe during the counter reformation caused them to flee Prague Castle and move into exile around 1619-1620.  Frederick died while they were living in The Hague, in the Netherlands. 

Professor Whitestick meets Elizabeth Stuart at the NPG

(courtesy Anthony Luvera)

Lesley described her dress with the threads coated with silver gilt and spangles and how the artist had painstakingly reproduced the detail and jewels in her dress.  Discussions amongst the group were had regarding the cleaning of such garments and whether Elizabeth had a body double to model the costume while the portrait was being painted as well as Elizabeth’s connections in London during her later life.  She was still a child when the Gunpowder Plot with Guy Fawkes occurred in 1605, though she lived to see the restoration of the Stuart family after the English Civil War and the beheading of Charles I.  However, she was separated from some of her children as they either married Catholics or in turn became Catholic.  She retained her Protestant faith while in the Netherlands.  She was said to have had relationships and was described as the Queen of Hearts.  One of the group mentioned a building in the Strand area of London with connections to her.

Many thanks to the National Portrait Gallery for a very interesting 90 minute talk around the painting.  The NPG Bookshop has a selection of postcards, though none of Elizabeth Stuart.  However, a postcard of her father James I / VI is available, with the painting located next to Elizabeth Stuart’s in Room 4.  Also, NPG has an attractive little book titled Insights: Shakespeare and His Contemporaries by Charles Nicholl which is on sale for £5 and available in the bookshop.  In hardback and with 110 pages, it has many colour plates. 

A later painting of Elizabeth Stuart by Gerrit van Honthorst is owned by the National Gallery (NG6362).  It may not be on display at the moment but here is a link to it on their website: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/visiting/virtualtour/#/room-24-B/

PS

Lesley also talked about the background to painting and artists at the time of Robert Peake.  There were many influences from the north European renaissance, with Flemish and German artists and craftsmen having an influence on the English market. 

There is currently an exhibition of royal manuscripts at the British Library.  I haven’t been to this exhibition due to my lack of mobility, but I have the catalogue and it is proving to be an interesting source of information.  I heard a comment on the radio about a new exhibition at the British Museum on the Hajj (Pilgrimage to Mecca) that the catalogue may be more interesting than ‘peering at tiny manuscripts in a crowded exhibition.’  This illustrates neatly the importance of audio description at the Wallace Collection in the case of manuscripts, and the royal portraits in the case of the National Portrait Gallery.  There was a continuity of skills as illuminated manuscripts featuring kings and government transformed into the art of portraiture and many of the skills in gilding were transferred to painting.  I hope to visit both the British Library and British Museum exhibitions with sighted friends and some prior knowledge of the exhibits.