Sir Anthony Mildmay, Knight of Apethorpe, Northamptonshire
Nicholas Hilliard (English, c. 1547–1619)
c. 1590–93
- Medium
- Watercolor on vellum, laid on card, mounted on wood
- Classification
- Portrait Miniature
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 23.2 x 17.1 cm (9 1/8 x 6 3/4 in.); Unframed: 23.3 x 17.4 cm (9 3/16 x 6 7/8 in.); Overall framed: 32.7 x 26.8 cm (12 7/8 x 10 9/16 in.)
- Culture
- England, 16th century
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Framed by the folds of a circular tent, Sir Anthony Mildmay strikes a relaxed and confident pose, with his right hand resting on a cloth-covered table and his left grasping the hilt of his thin, double-edged sword called a rapier. Helmet, gauntlet, and leg coverings are scattered about, as if Mildmay has been interrupted in the act of putting on or taking off his armor. Despite its small scale, this portrait reveals Nicholas Hilliard’s emulation of (and rivalry with) life-size court portraiture, while his meticulous attention to detail and use of costly materials like shell gold reflect the refined world of courtly tournaments.
