FDA-P.63-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-P.63-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
Henry Savile
Title Type
assigned by cataloguer
Description
Portrait of a man, full-length, in a black doublet, hose, cloak and cap, holding gloves by a draped table, within a curtained interior
Comments
Eton Provost Henry Savile holds embroidered leather gloves in one hand, while the other rests on a leather-bound book, probably a Bible. Before his arrival at the College, he had served as Warden of Merton College, Oxford. Savile was a skilled linguist and mathematician. In 1604, he was knighted and appointed to work as a translator on the Authorised Version of the Bible. He later set up a printing press at Eton.
Portraitist Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger painted two similar portraits of Savile in 1621, the year he died. This example was presented to the College after his death by the sitter’s widow, Lady Margaret Savile. Margaret gave the other, slightly larger version, to the Bodlien Library, Oxford, to which Savile had been one of the earliest donors.
Gheeraerts was born in Bruges but was brought to England as a small boy by his father, also an artist. Queen Elizabeth I sat to him in c.1592, as did her favourite, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. Gheeraerts later became the favourite painter of Queen Anne of Denmark.
'This ancient [dining] room on the first floor [of the Provost's Lodge] was built by Provost Lupton in 1518... As we enter, three stately portraits face us. Sir Henry Savile, full-length, in black velvet gown and cap: he was Queen Elizabeth's courtier and tutor, the most learned Englishman of those "spacious times" - after Bacon, of course, - and one of the handsomest men of his day. The portrait was given by Lady Savile immediately after his death, and hung in the library amid his bequests of manuscripts and books.
[Source: Blanche Warre Cornish, 'Prints and Prints at Eton College', The Pall Mall Magazine, August 1900, p.503-504]
'...Savile ...in a Dutch full-length corroborates the accounts that attribute to him a noble presence. His portrait, presented by Lady Savile after his death, certainly hung in his Library...'
[Source: Christopher Hussey, Eton College, 1922, p.41]
Sitter was: Warden of Merton College Oxford 1585; Provost of Eton College 1596
Portraitist Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger painted two similar portraits of Savile in 1621, the year he died. This example was presented to the College after his death by the sitter’s widow, Lady Margaret Savile. Margaret gave the other, slightly larger version, to the Bodlien Library, Oxford, to which Savile had been one of the earliest donors.
Gheeraerts was born in Bruges but was brought to England as a small boy by his father, also an artist. Queen Elizabeth I sat to him in c.1592, as did her favourite, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. Gheeraerts later became the favourite painter of Queen Anne of Denmark.
'This ancient [dining] room on the first floor [of the Provost's Lodge] was built by Provost Lupton in 1518... As we enter, three stately portraits face us. Sir Henry Savile, full-length, in black velvet gown and cap: he was Queen Elizabeth's courtier and tutor, the most learned Englishman of those "spacious times" - after Bacon, of course, - and one of the handsomest men of his day. The portrait was given by Lady Savile immediately after his death, and hung in the library amid his bequests of manuscripts and books.
[Source: Blanche Warre Cornish, 'Prints and Prints at Eton College', The Pall Mall Magazine, August 1900, p.503-504]
'...Savile ...in a Dutch full-length corroborates the accounts that attribute to him a noble presence. His portrait, presented by Lady Savile after his death, certainly hung in his Library...'
[Source: Christopher Hussey, Eton College, 1922, p.41]
Sitter was: Warden of Merton College Oxford 1585; Provost of Eton College 1596
Description
Content (person)
Savile, Henry, 1549 - 1622 (Sitter)
Dimensions
height (sight size): 2100mm
width (sight size): 1210mm
height (frame): 2290mm
width (frame): 1412mm
depth (frame): 51mm
width (sight size): 1210mm
height (frame): 2290mm
width (frame): 1412mm
depth (frame): 51mm
Inscription
I.D. label on frame
Materials & techniques note
Oil on canvas
Physical description
Carved, gilt frame
Production
Person
Date
1621
History and association
Object history note
Provenance: Provenance: Collection of the sitter; by whom bequeathed to Eton College by the sitter (presented by Lady Savile, wife of the sitter)
[See: Eton College Chronicle, No.1304, Thursday, 17 February 1910, p.645; Christopher Hussey, Eton College, 1922, p.41]
Exhibited: National Portrait exhibition, South Kensington, 1866, catalogue number 475; National Exhibition of Works of Art, Leeds Infirmary, Great George Street, Leeds (displayed at the top of the grand staircase), 1868, catalogue number 3001
[See: Eton College Chronicle, No.1304, Thursday, 17 February 1910, p.645; Christopher Hussey, Eton College, 1922, p.41]
Exhibited: National Portrait exhibition, South Kensington, 1866, catalogue number 475; National Exhibition of Works of Art, Leeds Infirmary, Great George Street, Leeds (displayed at the top of the grand staircase), 1868, catalogue number 3001
