LAURENCE HILLIARD (BRITISH 1581/2-1647/8) Portrait miniature of a nobleman, circa 1605, wearing black doublet and white ruff, blue background with gold border gouache on vellum set into the lid of an ivory box 50mm (2 in) high PROVENANCE: Edain Bucher The sitter in this delicate portrait was clearly a nobleman connected with the court, which is made apparent by the black doublet he is wearing. Black was an expensive cloth to produce and usually only worn by the very wealthiest people. It has been suggested that the sitter could be Sir Thomas Coventry, later 1st Baron Coventry of Aylesborough (1578-1640). He regularly commissioned portraits from Cornelius Johnson between 1623 and 1639, and there are various versions of his portrait in private and public collections including a number in properties owned by the National Trust. Coventry was a prominent English lawyer, politician and judge. In 1617 he was made Solicitor-General by King James I and knighted, and in 1621 he became Attorney General. On the ascent of Charles I in 1625, he was promoted again, to Lord Keeper. He was created Baron Coventry of Aylesboroughin 1628. As a Protestant, it is thought that his appointment served to quell religious friction following the King's marriage to Henrietta Maria. Laurence Hilliard was the son of the eminent miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard. He began his apprenticeship circa 1597 and completed it in 1605. He worked for James I and Queen Anne of Denmark and inherited his father's appointment as limner to James I. Some of Laurence's miniatures, as evident here, show the blue background which are reminiscent of his father's work.