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Description: | oil painting
A half length portrait of George Buchanan, Principal of St. Leonard's College 1566-1570. It is a full frontal portrait with the sitter holding a book in his right hand.
There is a possibility that HC148 is the original, lost work by Brounckhurst (see Carruthers, 1909-10).
Information on Buchanan iconography, with references to Brounckhurst, Titian and Pourbus, discussed by Sir Roy Strong in his catalogue of the (London) National Portrait Gallery's 'Tudor and Jacobean Portraits', 1969.
In August 1580, payment was made to Arnold van Brounckhorst for 'Ane pourtraict of Mr. george buchanane': James VI authorised this payment of £8. The portrait in the National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG 524), dated 1581, is thought to be a copy of this lost work (Strong). Claims have been made that a portrait in the Herzog-August Bibliothek is original; however, Strong notes that it is an exact copy of NPG 524 and is dated 1596. Strong notes that another copy exists at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (SNPG L.148) and that two are held at St Andrews University - presumably he means HC148 and HC147, but HC147 is a quite different image, once thought to be of Buchanan but now identified as being of Pierre Jeannin, Finance Minister to Henri IV of France.
In 1579 Peter Young, Buchanan's colleague in the education of James VI, sent portraits of Knox and Buchanan by 'Vaensun' to Beza, in Geneva, for inclusion in his Icones. These portraits failed to arrive in time and in any case, Beza did not want to include Buchanan. Nothing more is heard of this portrait (Strong). Sixteen years later, John Johnston, Professor of Divinity at St Andrews, and a friend of Young, wrote (18 February 1595) that he was sending Beza a life and description of Buchanan and saying that his friends were getting Beza's portrait engraved. This certainly seems to have been connected with the publication of Boissard's Icones Vivorum Illustrium (Frankfurt, 1598) where an engraved portrait appears with verses by Johnston plus a life and description. The engraving was by Granthomme and was based presumably on a painting sent to the publishers by Johnston. HC148 is very similar to this engraving (see Boissard in University Library), as are the works in the NPG and Herzog-August Bibliothek.
The University of Edinburgh holds two pictures of Buchanan - one is thought to be an original contemporary likeness, held in the University since it was founded (Drummond, PSAS, Vol. XI, p.257). The other is similar to the Boissard engraving and would seem to be a copy at several removes from the original.
A second type of Buchanan portrait exists, which Strong categories as 'The Doubtful Type'. This frontal type first appears in the Elzevir edition of Buchanan's poems published in Leiden in 1628. The surviving paintings of this type all seem to follow, rather than precede, in date the 1628 engraving. As the frontal type appears forty years after Buchanan's death its authenticity may be open to doubt. It is not absolutely irreconcilable with the other type, but does stretch the imagination. Elements in it suggest that it goes back to a north Italian portrait in the manner of Titian.
Paintings of this type are in the possession of the Royal Society; at Saltoun Hall; sold Christie's, 26 October 1945 (lot 19) and 12 March 1948 (lot 151); in the University of Leiden Collection. This type was engraved by Houbraken (1742) after a portrait ascribed to Pourbus (1545-1581) in the collection of Dr Mead which furthered its circulation (this is the portrait now supposed to be in the Royal Society's collection). Front-on portraits of old men with white beards, therefore, tend to get called Buchanan. (Strong). HC147 would seem to be of this type.
Carruthers (Scottish History Review, 1909-10) makes the case that HC148, the St Andrews University portrait, is the original work by Brounckhurst, as the date on it precedes that on the NPG work by a year. Strong does not discuss HC148. | Publisher: | University of St Andrews | Rights holder: | 47795 | Subjects: | PORTRAIT HISTORIAN painting PRINCIPAL | Temporal: | 1580/1620 | Source: | University of St Andrews | Creator: | BROUNCKHORST, Arnold Van (after or by) | Identifier: | HC148 | Language: | en-GB |
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