{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O16580"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O16580/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AG3042/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AG3042/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AG3042","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021MV9974","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018LE6575","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AH2106","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AP6271","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O16580/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O16580","accessionNumber":"P.21-1942","objectType":"Portrait miniature","titles":[{"title":"Potrait Miniature of an Unknown Man Clasping a Hand from a Cloud","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"With its allegory of the symbolically linked hands and the mysterious motto, which still has not been satisfactorily explained, this miniature typifies the emblematic mystery encouraged by Queen Elizabeth I's Accession Day ceremonial jousts. These great public tournaments centred around the Queen receiving the homage of her young knights, each of whom presented her with a shield bearing an impresa, a combination of picture and motto ‘borne by noble personages to notify some particular conceit of their own’. In much the same way, this miniature - uniting portrait, allegorical symbol and obscure motto - becomes a single statement of the ideals and allegiances of the sitter, to be shared only with those within his intimate circle. The clasped hands are a symbol of concord and plighted faith, here presumably between the stylish young courtier and his lady. Such complex messages on portraits would have been determined by discussions between the sitter and Nicholas Hilliard, the artist.\n\nNumerous scholars have tried to identify the sitter, variously, as: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex; Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford; Lord Thomas Howard and, inevitably, William Shakespeare. Some of these identifications are more plausible than others, but for none is there sufficient evidence. ","physicalDescription":"Portrait miniature, oval, head and shoulders, of a man clasping a hand from a cloud; inscribed with gold lettering on either side of the head.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Hilliard, Nicholas","id":"A8506"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"},{"text":"vellum","id":"x42751"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on vellum mounted on to a plain brown card, probably a later addition","categories":[{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"},{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"}],"styles":[{"text":"Elizabethan","id":"AAT21036"},{"text":"Tudor","id":"AAT21035"},{"text":"English School","id":"x44855"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006AG3042","2021MV9974","2018LE6575","2006AH2106","2006AP6271"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"90A","id":"THES49164"},"free":"","case":"CA003","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"miniature","id":"AAT33936"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1588","earliest":"1588-01-01","latest":"1588-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Transferred from the British Museum","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"60","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"49.5","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from: Strong, Roy, 'Artists of the Tudor Court: the Portrait Miniature Rediscovered 1520-1620', London: The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983. ","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Inscribed in gold on either side of the head: 'Attici amoris ergo. / Ano. Dni. 1588'. The motto has never been satisfactorily explained or translated. It has recently been suggested that it could be translated as ‘Because of Athenian love’. [see Catharine MacLeod, ‘Elizabethan Treasures: miniatures by Hilliard and Oliver’, National Portrait Gallery, London, cat. no. 28, pages 96-97]. ‘Ano. Dni. 1588’: [Anno Domini] means: ‘In the year of our Lord. 1588’.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"Once owned by Hans Sloane and then transferred to the British Museum in 1754, a year after his death: This was probably part of a group of Hilliard miniatures sold in May 1726 from the collection of a writer, Mr Halstead: “there likewise several hds of Hilliard with writing about, gold letters... the Earl of Essex. 1588...” (George Vertue, Notebooks, II, Walpole Society, XX,1932, p. 13). The 'Essex' could be this miniature acquired by Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753). This passed with his collection to the British Museum in 1754 (BM No. 3; Sloane 272) and it is recorded in the Sloane Inventory: “The picture of the Earl of Essex in whose hand is another coming from the clouds, supposed to be that of Queen Elizabeth, wrote upon Attici Amoris Ergo 1588 in miniature!, purchased or valued at £2.2.0d; transferred to the V&A, 1939.\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Portrait Miniature, Portrait miniature of a man clasping a hand from a cloud, by Nicholas Hilliard, watercolour on vellum, 1588.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Strong, Roy. Artists of the Tudor Court: the Portrait Miniature Rediscovered 1520-1620.. London: The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983. Cat. 83, pp. 75-76. \n\nPart Citation:\r\n\r\nThere are two versions of this miniature, the second of which was in the possession of Dr Leslie Hotson who made it the subject of his book, 'Shakespeare by Hilliard', London, 1977. The existence of a repetition indicates that the sitter was of some social standing. [Update 2013: In 2013 the second version was sold at Christie's. A close comparison at the V&A of both miniatures has established that the V&A version is the ad vivum version. Despite the large amount of damage on the sitter’s left cheek in the V&A version, it is of high quality.]\r\n\r\n\"... The sitter’s right hand is raised clasping a female left hand issuing from a cloud with a ruff-cuff. A comparison with many other miniature by Hilliard leaves it indisputable that this is a female and not a male hand as Hotson argues. The formula is paralleled in Hans Eworth’s portrait of Sir John Luttrell (1550) in which Peace, ensconced in the clouds, embraces his raised arm (See Roy Strong, The English Icon, p. 86 (no. 22)). Clasped hands are a common emblem of Concord and plighted faith:\r\n\r\nOf Concord firme, the Romans in their coine,\r\nThis symbole gave, their peace about to make,\r\nThat as their hands, as in one their hearts should ione,\r\nAnd sooner first they would their lives forsake…\r\n(H. Peachum, Minerva Britanna, London, 1612, p. 135).\r\n\r\nThe Hand-in-hand, which Plighted faith implies… (George Wither, A Collection of Emblemes, London, 1635, p. 166). More confusing is the motto which no one has satisfactorily explained or translated.\" \n\r\n"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Catharine MacLeod with Rab MacGibbon, Victoria Button, Katherine Coombs and Alan Derbyshire. Elizabethan treasures : miniatures by Hilliard and Oliver. London : National Portrait Gallery, 2019., pp. 96-7 ISBN: 9781855147027"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Heather R. Darsie. Letters. A new translation of a Hilliard miniature motto. Burlington Magazine, vol. 166, no.1456, 2024, pp. 668-669"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Katherine Coombs, The Portrait Miniature in England, V&A Publications, 1998, pp.87-92."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Katherine Coombs, Finney, Samuel (1719-1798)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Damiët Schneeweisz, Rosalind McKever, and Adriana Concin. The Portrait Miniature: A New History. London: Thames & Hudson and the V&A, 2026."},{"reference":{"text":"Damiët Schneeweisz, Rosalind McKever, and Adriana Concin. The Portrait Miniature: A New History. London: Thames & Hudson and the V&A, 2026.","id":"AUTH411474"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"hat","id":"AAT46106"},{"text":"cloud","id":"x35718"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"impressa","id":"x35993"},{"text":"emblem","id":"x35994"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["P.21-1942"],"accessionNumberNum":"21","accessionNumberPrefix":"P","accessionYear":1942,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-14","recordCreationDate":"1999-12-15","availableToBook":false}}