ISAAC OLIVER (ANGLO-FRENCH, C. 1565-1617)

The present portrait by Oliver compares with one of a nobleman, signed and dated 1617, sold Christie’s, London, 20 March 1990, lot 150 in which the sitter wears a very similar embroidered sash. One stylistic difference is the colour of the sash, which is green in the 1617 portrait. A further comparison can be made between the red sash worn by the sitter in the present portrait and one worn by Henry Prince of Wales in profile, thought to have been painted circa 1610. The miniature, which is in the Fitzwilliam, Cambridge (inv. no. 3903) depicts the Prince 'in the manner of an ancient Roman emperor, wearing a Jacobean idea of classical armour' (C. MacLeod, Elizabethan Treasures. Miniatures by Hilliard and Oliver, London, 2019), and the sash is worn across the front of his chest, across both shoulders.
The lovelock falling from the sitter’s hair is a hairstyle associated with male courtiers in the 16th and 17th centuries and is a symbol of affection. The hair, which is sometimes adorned with a bow or a jewel, typically falls over the sitter’s left shoulder, towards the sitter’s heart.