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Nicolas
Hilliard

United Kingdom • 1547−1619

1537-1619, English painter, miniaturist, painter, son of a goldsmith. Was educated first as a jeweler. He lived and worked as an artist at the court of Elizabeth and James I. the First true miniaturist in England, Hilliard was self-taught. He drew in a linear portraits on paper or parchment, even on playing cards. His work was very individual, elegant and subtle, well suited to its shape. He and his pupil Isaac Oliver were the leaders in this field. Hilliard's reputation was very high among people in the arts during the reign of Elizabeth. Most of his work is at Windsor Castle and private collections of England; "the Queen" (1572) is in the National Gallery, "Portrait of Youth" (1588) is in the Victoria and albert Museum in London.

The artist was the son of Richard Hilliard (1519-1594) of Exeter, Devon, jeweller and a deeply religious Protestant, who was also Sheriff of the city and County in 1560, and Laurence, daughter of John wall, a London goldsmith. Most likely, at a young age Hilliard was taken into the house of a prominent akterskogo Protestant John Bodley (father of Thomas Bodley, founder of Bodleian library, Oxford). With the ascension to the throne of Mary Tudor John Bodley went into exile, and on 8 may 1557 10-year-old Hilliard was noted among his companions on the Geneva family. In Geneva, the Hilliard learned the German language. Thomas Bodley, who was his senior by 2 years, continued in the capital of Switzerland, his classical training with leading scholars. But it is not clear whether he studied Hilliard with him.

In 13 years, Hilliard has written a self-portrait, and as you say, at 18 he posed was Maria Stuart. He left to be apprenticed to the jeweler of the Queen of England to Robert Brandon, who was goldsmith and Treasurer of the city of London. Assume also that Hilliard could learn the art of painting from Teerlink Levins, daughter of Simon Bening, the last great master of the Flemish tradition of illuminating manuscripts, which served as a court painter of Henry VIII after Holbein's death. After 7 years of apprenticeship, Hilliard was recognized as a Master of the Honorable Guild of Goldsmiths in 1569 and opened together with his younger brother John workshop. Their second brother was also a goldsmith, and the youngest is a priest. In 1576 he married the daughter of Brandon, Alice, who bore him 7 children.

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