PICTURES
The pictures in the State Apartments are chiefly remarkable as a
collection made for all the kings of
England since Henry VIII, by men of widely
differing tastes, opportunities and knowledge. It
is perhaps inevitable that a royal gallery should
include more portraits than any other kind of
picture-the 'king's painter' is almost invariably
a portrait painter-and this adds to the interest
of the series at Hampton Court. Contemporary
portraits of historical personages have their own
value apart from their artistic merits, and more than
a third of these pictures are such portraits.
There are also a considerable number of old
Italian pictures, chiefly by the less-known painters,
whose works are rarely seen in England. (fn. 1) Among
these may be mentioned two by Correggio, a 'Holy
Family with St. James' (no. 430), (fn. 2) 'St. Catherine
Reading' (no. 429), and 'A Shepherd with a Pipe,'
said to be by Giorgione (no. 113), which Miss
Logan considers 'the most precious picture at
Hampton Court.'
Henry VIII began the collection, with some
paintings on wood, (fn. 3) by Anthony Toto (Toto del
Nunziato), but these no longer remain. Among
the Tudor pictures are twenty which are said to have
been painted by Holbein, but only three of them
are recognized as genuine by the experts. (fn. 4) They
are the portraits of 'Lady Vaux' (no. 270), and
'John Reskemeer (no. 265), of which the original
drawings are at Windsor Castle; and the portrait
of 'Frobenius Erasmus,' printer (no. 280), but
the authenticity of the last is doubtful. The other
pictures, which are of Holbein's school, are none
the less interesting, especially those representing
historical subjects, such as 'The Meeting of
Henry VIII and the Emperor Maximilian' (no.
445), the 'Battle of the Spurs' (no. 452), and the
'Field of the Cloth of Gold' (no. 455). (fn. 5) There
is also the well-known group of Henry VIII and
his family in the cloisters at Hampton Court, with
Will Somers the Jester and 'Jane the Fool' in the
background (no. 453); there are also several
portraits of Henry, notably one said to be by
Jost van Cleeg (no. 269), of Edward VI, Elizabeth
and Mary, of Francis I (no. 264), and others of
the period. The little copy of 'Henry VIII and
Jane Seymour, Henry VII and Elizabeth of
York' (no. 271) was painted by Rémee van
Lemput in 1667, from the famous fresco by
Holbein at Whitehall, destroyed by the fire in
1698. There are several portraits of Queen
Elizabeth, notably one in fancy dress, said to be
by Zucchero (no. 309); (fn. 6) a startling allegorical
picture of the queen with Minerva, Juno, and
Venus by De Heere (no. 250), and two very
characteristic portraits in all her glory of jewelled
headdress, lace ruff, and wonderful strings of pearls;
one is said to be by Zucchero (no. 320), and one by
Mark Gerrard (no. 619), (fn. 7) which represents her as
an old woman, and is said to be her last portrait.
There are also some comparatively inferior portraits of the statesmen of her reign, Walsingham,
Leicester, Sir Nicholas Bacon, and Charles Howard,
Earl of Nottingham. James I did not add much
to the glory of the royal picture gallery; there is
a portrait of Mary Queen of Scots, a copy by
Mytens, and one or two of James himself and
of Queen Anne of Denmark; two are by Vansomer (no. 515 and no. 521). There is also
a fine portrait of the first Duke of Buckingham,
by Janssen (no. 57). Charles I attempted to
form a collection which could worthily be called
'royal.' The greater number of pictures at
Hampton Court, including the best Italian examples, are from his 'gallery,' though many were
scattered and lost during the Commonwealth.
The equestrian portrait of Charles himself (no. 85)
is probably from Vandyck's studio, and is a copy
of the famous picture at Windsor. The only
genuine work by Vandyck is a portrait of Mrs.
Lemon (no. 317); and the only example of
Rubens is a 'Diana and her Nymphs Reposing after
the Chase,' in which the animals and background
were painted by Snyders.
In 1628 Charles acquired the famous gallery of
the Dukes of Mantua, including Mantegna's nine
great cartoons, which form the most valuable part
of the Hampton Court collection, and hang in the
'Communication Gallery' (or Mantegna Gallery)
on the west side of the Fountain Court. They
were painted (on twilled linen in tempera) by
Mantegna for Ludovico Gonzago, Duke of
Mantua, begun in 1486 and finished in 1492.
They are said to have originally decorated a gallery
in the duke's Palace of St. Sebastian, Mantua, and
have been enthusiastically appreciated by many
connoisseurs, (fn. 8) but are now much out of repair; it
is said that they were coarsely repainted by
Laguerre in the reign of William III.
It must not be supposed that all the pictures
collected by Charles I hung originally at Hampton
Court, where the great rooms which now contain
some of them had not been built; they were
divided, as the art treasures of the Crown are still
divided, among the various dwellings of the sovereign.
The king's pictures, sold after his death 'by order
of the Parliament,' realized £38,000; the sale
lasting about five years. From Hampton Court
382 pictures were disposed of for nearly £5,000;
among them Mantegna's 'Triumph' was valued
at £1,000, but was saved by Cromwell, who
also saved the great Raphael cartoons, for which
Wren afterwards built a special gallery. (fn. 9) A certain
number of the pictures were returned to Charles II
by the States of Holland, from the collection of
Van Reynot, who had purchased them at the
sale.
The portraits of the Restoration period are wellknown, and the collection of Lely's 'Beauties,' now
in the 'King's State Bedchamber,' is famous.
Kneller's portraits of Queen Mary's ladies were
painted in emulation of the earlier set, and are
more dignified, but far stiffer and less beautiful;
the large allegorical picture of William III landing
at Margate in 1697 (no. 29) hangs in 'William
the Third's Presence Chamber,' Pope's satirical
lines perhaps describe it adequately:
'And great Nassau, to Kneller's hand decreed,
To fix him graceful on the bounding steed.'
Queen Mary collected about twenty pictures
by Baptiste, the well-known flower-painter of his
time, and there are also a great many pictures
of the German, Flemish, and Dutch schools. The
collection of historical portraits by Benjamin West,
chiefly of George II, George III and their families,
formerly at the palace, (fn. 10) has been removed to Kensington Palace.
The paintings of Verrio and Laguerre on ceilings and staircases have already been described.
Their 'meretricious magnificence' hardly suits the
taste of the present day, but John Evelyn admired
the work of Verrio enough to compare it with
that of Raphael. The death-blow to his shortlived fame was given by Pope's couplet:
'On painted ceilings you devoutly stare,
Where sprawl the saints of Verrio and Laguerre.'
Two paintings of the palace hang in the lobby
of 'Cardinal Wolsey's Closet'; one is a view of
the old east front, showing the avenues and canal
made by Charles II in 1665, by Danckers; the
other is a drawing of the south front in 1558, after
Wynegaarde.