The Jacobean period

1603 – 1700 AD: A century of change

Queen Elizabeth I died on 24th March 1603 and left a stunned court with a Scottish King, James I on the throne. The heroic age of ‘Good Queen Bess’ was over and James, more interested in horses than the arts did little to deserve the artistic triumphs of his reign.

1605 AD: Robert Peake

Robert Peake was an artist with a distinctive style, his use of colouring and light mark him as an original painter. His strong linear quality is seen in this powerful image which is almost cut diagonally by the line of the sword and scabbard. This line is echoed by that of the tree and the deer’s back

Henry, Prince of Wales (1594-1612) and Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex (1591-1646)

1616 AD: Isaac Oliver

Portrait of Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset. An artist outside his own time yet still able to impress with his brilliance of colour and stunning detail.

Portrait of Richard Sackville

1620-5 Nathaniel Bacon. Cookmaid with Still Life of Vegetables and Fruit. Landscape, portrait and still life with Dutch influence

1631 AD. Nicholas Stone: Marble. Monument to John Donne.

Although surrounded by court sculptors from Holland and Italy, Nicholas Stone was able to distinguish himself as a leading artist in this relatively new naturalistic style. His work was in demand for monumental statuary ennobling the newly rich aristocracy and giving it ‘substance’ and respectability.

1640 AD. William Dobson. Portrait of Endymion Porter.

The 17th century saw English painting overwhelmed by foreign artists who were favoured by the King, in particular the Flemish painters Peter Paul Rubens, who visited England briefly, and Anthony van Dyck, who settled in England to become court painter to Charles I. His baroque elegance dominated 17th-century portraiture.

There were however native artists of great merit too. Among his successors were William Dobson (1610–1646), the cavalier painter who succeeded Van Dyck as court painter to Charles I, and Robert Walker (1600–59), who painted portraits of Oliver Cromwell and other Puritan leaders.