A UNIQUE MASTER

world. He is a person who is considered to be unique in the direction of art.

Gallery, Liverpool

George Klifford's portrait, the column of
Cumberland, nearby 1590, London, a
national sea museum

Nicholas Hilliard was an English goldsmith and a limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some larger cabinet miniatures, up to about ten inches tall, and at least two famous half-length panel portraits of Elizabeth.

the visual image of Elizabethian England, very different from that of most of Europe in the late sixteenth century.

Portrait of the young man among roses, nearby 1588,
Victoria and Albert's London museum

but his paintings are superbly executed and have freshness and charm that has ensured his continuing reputation as "the central artistic figure of the Elizabethian age, the only English painter whose work reflects, in its delicate microcosm, the world of Shakespeare's earlier plays”.

Portrait of English queen Elizabeth I, nearby 1590,
Victoria and Albert's London museum

in a family of a jeweler. His father taught him and he also studied at the royal jeweler’s for some time. He was a self-educated person as in those days very few artists were engaged in such direction in painting. He is considered to be the first miniature painter in England.

Richard Hilliard's portrait, the father of the artist,
1577, Victoria and Albert's London museum

painted without using any preparatory drawings.
Nicholas Hilliard was the court miniature painter of queen Elizabeth.

Nicolas Hilliard's workshop, queen Elizabeth I
(a portrait in Herdvige, 1599)

parchment. In his works he used gentle tones of water colours that gave special tenderness and grace to his miniatures.

Portrait of the unknown person holding a female hand,
1588, London, National gallery of England

the principles of drawing a miniature and a court picture. He also supplemented his works of art with emblems and calligraphical mottoes.
The subtlety of erformance of Hilliard’s works admires. He was able to reproduce thin laces of a collar or a shining jewel.

Portrait of the unknown person, 1602, London,
Victoria and Albert's museum

decorated and sparkle as if strange plumage of paradise birds. And even Shakespeare in the masterpieces appreciated Nicolas Hilliard's creativity.

Portrait of English queen Elizabeth I,1587, London,
National portrait gallery

now. But you really need a magnifier to observe them.