A Rediscovered Miniature by Nicholas Hilliard

Congratulations are due to Emma Rutherford and The Limner Company for their recent coup in negotiating the private sale of one of the most desirable portrait miniatures ever to come to market.

Painted by Nicholas Hilliard (c.1547-1619), the portrait is thought to depict Henry Wriothesley, the 3rd Earl of Southampton (1573-1624), famously a muse of William Shakespeare.

The reportedly six-figure deal was completed after months of research involving art historian Dr Elizabeth Goldring, author of Nicholas Hilliard: Life of an Artist (2019).

It’s not just the stunning beauty and artistry of the portrait that fascinates; a clue that appears to the reverse of the portrait hints at an even closer link to England’s most celebrated poet and playwright.

Hilliard miniature reverse

Painted on a thin sheet of vellum, the image was pasted onto a playing card, using the suit of hearts as a motif, presumably as some sort of love token. Intriguingly, that motif was later covered by what at first appears to be a black arrow… but is it really a spear? That is what Rutherford and Goldring suspect. And, if so, does it represent a play on the name Shakespeare?

This raises the possibility that the portrait itself might once have been a gift from the Earl to Shakespeare, who certainly seemed to be consumed with interest in the beautiful young man in his writings.

Southampton is thought to be the ‘Fair Youth’ of Shakespeare’s sonnets, and at least two of the poet’s most famous verses were dedicated to him. Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594), written around the time the miniature was painted, depart from the usual flattering of a patron to approach the more intimate tones of a declaration of love.

Did Shakespeare add the blackened spear to the heart on the reverse of the miniature (the piercing of a spurned lover?) on hearing the news of the Earl’s marriage in 1598 and then return the miniature to him? We will probably never know, but the possibility hangs in the air.

The miniature came to light after Rutherford and Goldring identified a previously unknown work by Hilliard last year. It showed the stunningly beautiful Lady Arbella Stuart. That revelation encouraged the owner of the Earl of Southampton miniature to approach them about its origins.

It is thought that the Earl’s miniature will go on public display at some point in 2027.