Images(2)

Portrait of King James I of England and VI of Scotland (1566-1625)

DatePossibly 1606-1615

After work by John de Critz the Elder (ca. 1551 - 1642)

OriginEngland, London

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 28 3/4 x 22 3/4in. (73 x 57.8cm) and Framed: 36 3/4 x 32 x 2 1/2in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1936-694,A&B

DescriptionA half-length portrait of a man turned slightly to the right, his arms hanging straight down, the elbows and lower arms not shown. He wears a black, cocked (probably beaver) hat bound with a jeweled browband made of pearl and metallic threads and a jeweled pendant, the latter displayed on the upturned brim. The hat also appears to bear a black plume. (Lack of contrast with the dark background makes this difficult to discern). The sitter has brown eyes and dark reddish hair with a part-blonde, part-red, neatly-trimmed beard, longer at the front (as in a goatee). He wears a red jacket made of a ribbed textile woven with gold metallic threads, giving a moire effect ("metallic tissue") and constructed with shoulder wings. Covering the seams and used as trimming is a gold metallic tape with a picot edge. He also wears a white (probably linen) standing collar edged with lace. Around his neck hangs a narrow black sash, from which hangs, front and center, a plain gold ring. The background is a plain, unmodulated dark brown, with block lettering in yellow appearing in the upper left corner.
The 4 5/8-inch gilded frame appears to date from the early 18th-century. It has a flat, sanded liner, carved openwork raised corner ornaments of acanthus leaves and scallop shells, and continuous C- and S-scrolls on the cyma recta profile.
Label TextJames I succeeded Elizabeth I as monarch in 1603. He was the first member of the royal Stuart line and the first monarch to rule over both England and Scotland. (James had been king of Scotland since the age of 13 months!) He married Princess Anne of Denmark in 1589.

The painter of these portraits is unknown, although details in the likeness of James suggest that it derives from a work by John de Critz the Elder. Anne’s portrait, while clearly painted as a companion to James’s, does not follow any known de Critz likenesses.

What’s the Connection?
James I granted a royal charter to The Virginia Company in 1606, allowing them to establish a settlement in Virginia, which they did the following year. That settlement, Jamestown, and the adjacent James River were named in the king’s honor.

InscribedIn block letters in yellow paint in the upper left corner is: "IACOBVS. D. G./MAGNE BERTANIE/REX." [N.B. The final letter in "BERTANIE" is superscript but cannot be so reproduced here].
Conservator Russell Quandt's treatment report of 7 February 1961 includes his observation that the "inscription is sound & part of [the] original picture."

ProvenanceOwnership prior to CWF's source, dealer Frank Partridge, is undocumented.