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| Henry Carey (1596–1661), Second Earl of Monmouth |
Artist:Samuel Cooper (British, London (?) 1608?–1672 London)
Date:1649
Medium:Vellum on prepared card
Dimensions:Oval, 2 1/2 x 2 in. (64 x 52 mm)
Classification:Miniatures
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1949
Catalogue Entry
Samuel Cooper was orphaned as a child and brought up, together with his brother Alexander (1609–?1660), also a miniaturist, by his uncle John Hoskins (active by ca. 1615–died 1665). He was the pupil and for many years the partner of Hoskins, who is said to have been jealous of his accomplishment. He set up on his own about 1641–42. He was much patronized by Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) and the Puritans and after the Restoration by Charles II (1630–1685) and his pleasure-loving court. He was recognized in his lifetime throughout Europe as the most accomplished miniaturist of his age. At his peak, Cooper is remarkable for the breadth of his handling and the subtlety of his interpretation of character.
This is a representative example of the more restrained manner of portraiture practiced by Samuel Cooper during the Commonwealth, but it has lost some of its original force through the fading of the flesh tones. The broad brushwork may be inspired by Van Dyck and the restrained palette, angle of the head, and drapery arrangement by portrait medals (see Baetjer 1999). The miniature is consistent with the engraving of Monmouth by W. Faithorne placed as the frontispiece to his translation from Boccalini, Advertisements from Parnassus in Two Centuries; With the Political Touchstones (1656); in fact it may be the original for that engraving, though in the print the sitter's neck is bare.
Henry Carey (1596–1661), second earl of Monmouth, had little taste for public affairs and spent most of his time in retirement translating Italian and French authors. Burke's Peerage quotes Horace Walpole's observation: "We have scarce anything of his own composition, and are as little acquainted with his character as with his genius." Of his nine children, seven were daughters; his second son died of smallpox in 1641 and his eldest, Lionel, fighting for the cause of Charles I at Marston Moor in 1644.
[2015; adapted from Reynolds and Baetjer 1996]
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