NEWS
02 Jul 2025
TALK: Nicholas Hilliard's Portraits of James I/VI
A highlight of our upcoming selling exhibition with Classic Art London, will be the rare opportunity to see in-person one of Nicholas Hilliard's (c.1547-1619) royal portraits. The portrait of King James VI & I (1566-1625) by Hilliard will be offered for sale by The Limner Company at Guy Peppiatt Fine Art from 23 June - 4 July 2025.
We're delighted to announce that the portrait's significance will be discussed in a talk by art historian, Karen Hearn. (More information below.) The talk will be held on 2 July, 3 -4pm at the exhibition venue: Guy Peppiatt Fine Art, Riverwide House, 6 Mason’s Yard, Duke St., St James’s, London, SW1Y 6BU. The talk will last for 20 minutes and will be followed by questions, a chance to handle the artwork and light refreshments.
Booking is essential and spaces are extremely limited, so please contact emma@portraitminiature.com as soon as possible to reserve a place.
Nicholas Hilliard's Portraits of James I/VI
The Art Output of a Royal Limner
With the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, Nicholas Hilliard lost his most important patron. This change could have unsettled him, but her successor, king James VI of Scotland, renewed his position as ‘His Majesties lymner’; and Hilliard was the first artist in England to whom James gave a sitting. As a key figure in the transition from Elizabethan to Jacobean art, Hilliard was tasked with presenting images of royal stability during a transformative period in Britain's history. Portraits of James I, made in the early 17th century, reflect the merging of Tudor traditions with the new priorities of the Jacobean era, as miniatures remained central to the court as instruments of statecraft.
In this talk, Karen Hearn will look at one of the most important portrait miniatures on display during Classic Art London – a portrait by Nicholas Hilliard of King James I/VI, dated 1609 (possibly a gift of King James I and Queen Anne of Denmark to Robert Sidney (1563-1626), 1st Earl of Leicester.)
About the Speaker
Karen Hearn FSA was the Curator of 16th & 17th Century British Art at Tate Britain from 1992 to 2012, and is now an Honorary Professor at University College London. She writes, teaches, and broadcasts on art made in Tudor and Stuart Britain.
For her first major Tate exhibition, Dynasties: Painting in Tudor & Jacobean England 1530–1630, in 1995, she received a European Woman of Achievement Award. She subsequently curated shows there on Marcus Gheeraerts II, Van Dyck, Rubens and, at the NPG, Cornelius Johnson. Her book Portraying Pregnancy accompanied her 2020 exhibition of ‘pregnancy portraits’ at The Foundling Museum in London.
She is a co-author of Art & Court of James VI & I, the book of the current exhibition (closes 14 September 2025) at The Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, and has written extensively on portrait miniatures.
The Art Output of a Royal Limner
With the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, Nicholas Hilliard lost his most important patron. This change could have unsettled him, but her successor, king James VI of Scotland, renewed his position as ‘His Majesties lymner’; and Hilliard was the first artist in England to whom James gave a sitting. As a key figure in the transition from Elizabethan to Jacobean art, Hilliard was tasked with presenting images of royal stability during a transformative period in Britain's history. Portraits of James I, made in the early 17th century, reflect the merging of Tudor traditions with the new priorities of the Jacobean era, as miniatures remained central to the court as instruments of statecraft.
In this talk, Karen Hearn will look at one of the most important portrait miniatures on display during Classic Art London – a portrait by Nicholas Hilliard of King James I/VI, dated 1609 (possibly a gift of King James I and Queen Anne of Denmark to Robert Sidney (1563-1626), 1st Earl of Leicester.)
About the Speaker
Karen Hearn FSA was the Curator of 16th & 17th Century British Art at Tate Britain from 1992 to 2012, and is now an Honorary Professor at University College London. She writes, teaches, and broadcasts on art made in Tudor and Stuart Britain.
For her first major Tate exhibition, Dynasties: Painting in Tudor & Jacobean England 1530–1630, in 1995, she received a European Woman of Achievement Award. She subsequently curated shows there on Marcus Gheeraerts II, Van Dyck, Rubens and, at the NPG, Cornelius Johnson. Her book Portraying Pregnancy accompanied her 2020 exhibition of ‘pregnancy portraits’ at The Foundling Museum in London.
She is a co-author of Art & Court of James VI & I, the book of the current exhibition (closes 14 September 2025) at The Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, and has written extensively on portrait miniatures.
