[Vwoolf] Orlando portrait

Stuart N. Clarke stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com
Wed Oct 8 03:58:58 EDT 2014


According to Robert Sackville-West in “Inheritance”, the portrait “was painted five years before the outbreak of [the Civil] war” [oh dear – was that 1642?]; he was thirteen at the time; and was murdered in 1645 (p. 66).

Stuart

From: Christine Froula 
Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2014 10:37 PM
To: vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu 
Subject: [Vwoolf] Orlando portrait

Greetings, Julie and everyone. My friend Claudia Swan, a historian of Dutch art, forwarded Julie Vandivere's query about the painting to a friend of hers, another expert, who replied (below). 

Christine 




Dear Claudia, 


(Ik schrijf even in het Engels ten behoeve van je correspondent) 

 

This really is an interesting painting! 

Without doubt the object is a spyglass, probably with one drawtube which in the painting is in the collapsed position. 

The two white circles are protective caps: one for the eye glass and the other for the objective lens. 

At the time these costly hand held telescopes were made of ivory.

(See also the page from my book on the Louwman collection)

 

Actually the most prominent telescope maker of 17th century England was Richard Reeve(s), who was educated as an ivory turner. 

(See: A.D.C. Simpson, ‘Richard Reeve — The ‘English Campani’ — And the origins of the London telescope-making tradition’, Vistas in Astronomy, Volume 28, Part 1, 1985, Pages 357-365). 

See for instance also the trade card of John Yarwell from 1683.

 

However, the assumed date of the painting can NOT be 1610. 

In my view the costumes can be dated a few decades later, in the period 1640-1660? 

That would also make more sense with the object, which in my feeling also must be from that time span. 

Besides, the second son of Edward, 4th Earl of Dorset was born in 1622! 

Nevertheless, it must be one of the earliest depictions of an ivory spyglass. 

 

By the way, what is a ‘Necco wafer’?

 

My very best regards,

 

Huib Zuidervaart 

 

----------------------------------------

Dr. Huib J. Zuidervaart

Senior Historian of Science 

 

Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands 

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences - KNAW

www.huygens.knaw.nl

 

P.O. Box  90.754

NL-2509 LT  The Hague

The Netherlands

 

Van: Claudia Swan [mailto:c-swan at northwestern.edu] 
Verzonden: dinsdag 7 oktober 2014 2:04
Aan: Huib Zuidervaart
Onderwerp: Fwd: home

 

[…]

Ik schrijf dadelijk een antwoord […] maar dacht, als iemand een antwoord heeft op de vraag hieronder (over de kleine witte cirkels) dan ben jij het, oder? 

Hartelijke groet, 
Claudia 

 

-------- Original Message -------- 

      Subject: 
     [Vwoolf] What do you think these are?
     
      Date: 
     Mon, 29 Sep 2014 14:20:09 +0000
     
      From: 
     Vandivere, Julie mailto:jvandive at bloomu.edu
     
      To: 
     vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu mailto:vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
     


The first edition of Orlando had this as one of its illustrations.  What do you think the little white circles are on the table? 

I know the illustration was done at Knole by an unknown artist and is of Edward Sackville West "The Two Sons of Edward, 4th Earl of Dorset by Cornelius Nule in about 1610. In Orlando, the painting appears in black and white, but here I am including the colored one because I would love speculation on what the two white dots on the table are. They look like felt pads.  I know this might seem a bit silly, but I'm using the painting to make an argument.

 

They look like felt pads and might be to guard the glass on the telescope that is lying on the table. 

But I'd hate to make that argument without some input. Necco wafers?

 

 



 

 

 









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