Limners & Patroons

Printable newsletter version

Today, as always, it's hard for artists to find the right audience for their art. You get work where and when you can! It was even harder in the early colonial days. Back then, the sheer struggle to exist in a harsh new world was ever present. Decorating your home with art wasn't really the thing to do, especially if you were a Puritan who shunned iconic images. But there were artists carving out a living, mostly by designing and painting trade signs for shops, house painting or even some decorative stints from murals to adorning carriages.

Things changed by the mid-17th century. The mercantile industry in New England and New Netherlands was exploding. The southern city of Charleston was becoming a haven for landowners who were creating sprawling farms called plantations. Wealth was slowly being accumulated in the New World. And with it, the desire to have portraits created just like the wealthy back "home." Let's remember that while the colonial residents were living and exploring a new life, they were still Europeans and what happened across the pond, was going to happen here or as least for maybe 100 years.

The earliest portrait works date back to the mid-1600, about the same time of Vermeer, Rembrandt and Velazquez in Europe. There were two types of artists here: the limners and the patroons. Limn meant drawing and most artists were named after the task. (I think it's a far better word than drawers, which some of us use to describe artists who draw). Limners were notorious for not signing their work--perhaps because they were doing it commercially (signage) or on commission for family members. Whatever the reason, we see most of these early works as very primitive. Most limners, if not all, had no formal training, banking on their natural ability to see and paint. Two such paintings are:
Mrs. Elizabeth Freake and Baby Mary and Anne Pollard.

Elizabeth Freake was married to a wealthy merchant and attorney in Boston. Mary, the child she is holding, was one of eight that Elizabeth bore. As you can see, the painting is somewhat flat and stilted, a decorative method used by New England limners that imitated the Tudor style of painting so popular during the reign of Elizabeth I. Even so, notice the intricate detail of the lace and garments. Not bad for lack of training!

Another unnamed limner painted the picture of the then famous Anne Pollard c.1721. She too lived in Boston and this painting was to commemorate her 100th birthday. Notice how more light and shadow have been added in this picture as opposed to the last, but it is somewhat primitive, harsh is more the word, which probably represents the sitter's staunch features. 

By the way, there's an interesting story about Mrs. Pollard. In 1630, Anne, at eight years of age, was so determined to be the first person to land on shore in the New World, she jumped ship and swam in the shallow water to  the shoreline of what would become Boston someday. She would marry innkeeper William Pollard and they had thirteen children (no wonder she looks so unhappy!). They opened a tavern in Boston and she continued the business after her husband died. She survived another four years after this painting was completed and supposedly left 130 descendants. Can you imagine the crowd over the reading of the will?

Heading south toward New Netherlands (eventually New York), limners were getting work there as well. But instead of the flat, Tudor influence, this  was the land of the Dutch, whose homeland artists used modeling with light and shadow. A perfect example of this type of painting is of Mrs. Gerret Duyckinck c.1700. There's not much to find on Mrs. Garret, beyond the fact that she married in Albany, NY, in 1683, mothered 11 children and the family owned large tracts of land.

Interestingly if you compare this painting with the two above, you can see a difference in skill--perhaps the artist had some training in Holland and apprenticed under someone there. In any event, one can see a major style influence with the clothing and even her personality.

As said above, there is one common thread throughout the story of the limners and that's wealth. Just like Michangelo,da Vinci and even Norman Rockwell as we learned in December's newsletter, artists need to have a patron or an organization that will pay the bills. And between 1715 to 1730 or so, there were artists who benefited from such backing and it occurred in the New Netherlands. There was a new breed of wealthy landowners, called patroons (also the name for owners/heads of a companies) that desired portraits. But these would be full length, not just head shots. One of the most famous is that of John Van Cortlandt c.1731

Patroon painters, as they came to be known, worked in either full or three-quarter lengths figures. Animals were often added to the mix. Notice the tame deer being petted by Cortlandt.The backgrounds would either be lush countrysides or buildings, and the subject would be somewhat gesturing.  Some say that this was the beginning of true American art. Perhaps, perhaps not. 

Next month, I'm going to look at the artist John Smibert, a Scot, who would influence many future true native sons (and daughters). As we will continue to see, colonial art in the 18th century, outside of commercial signage and needlework, was primarily the portrait. That wouldn't change until the first landscape which was painted by a woman in the mid-1700s. So stay-tuned for that story and another one about a woman who would influence John Trumbull, the creator of the painting, Declaration of Independence, that graces our two-dollar bill.

*************************************************

Winter II 2015

Glastonbury Studios Classes

6-Week Class Term

Week of March 1 to Week of April 5

Limited to six students per class

Register by email: 

jjgoodell@gmail.com

Please note: Limited space per class. Payment reserves your seat.

See website for more details:

www.jillgoodell.com

Drawing in My Studio

• Every Tuesday evening
• 7 pm to 9 pm 
• $75 per term
• Wild Animals/Mixed media

The Morning Draw

• Every Wednesday morning
• 10 am to 12:30 pm 
• $85 per term
• Wild Animals/Mixed media

 Acrylic Painting: Abstracts II

• Every Thursday evening 
• 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm 
• $90 per term
• Beginner to Intermediate

 Second Sundays 

• 1 pm to 4 pm
• Visual Journaling with collage and mixed media
• Drop-in $25
• Details at: http://journalingpaperandpen.blogspot.com/
• Bring heavy-weight sketchbook

Spring/Summer Glastonbury Studios Workshops

All workshops are held in my Tigard studio from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Most supplies provided, including lunch. $99 per workshop

For more information email: jjgoodell@gmail.com

Space limited to nine students.

• Let's Learn About Color! Saturday March 28
• Beginning Acrylics   Saturday May 9
• Drawing Cats  Saturday June 13
• Drawing with Pastels  Saturday, July 11

PCC Saturday Workshops

Drawing Flowers: 

Saturday, March 7

Travel Sketching 

Saturday, March 21

For PCC info to their website or call 971-722-6266

January 2015 Newsletter: First Images of America

First Images of America, 1590

An American Art Series

First and foremost, when reviewing the history of American art, we must remember that there were indigenous people here on this continent who were creating their own. Their works were not on paper or canvas but created in stone drawings, jewelry, ceramics, textiles and the like. 

Unfortunately, the early European settlers brought with them what’s often referred to as the “invisible bullet,” that is, disease, which wiped out a large portion of the existing population. It is estimated that between 25% and 50% of the native people died through epidemics. Therefore, except for archaeological finds, most of the first peoples’ works have long disappeared.

What’s more, there was no true “American” art until the republic was formed. Up to that time, art was Euro-centric and the colonists  (who were mostly British) had no interest or appreciation of native tribal art. With that in mind, our story will begin with the first European to bring pictures back of the new world.

***************

It’s rather hard today to imagine a time when communication was strictly limited to word of mouth, written correspondence or pamphlets. But that’s how most things were conveyed in Europe during the 1500s. There was no television, radio, newspapers (as we know them) or of course, the Internet.

But that’s not to say that the 15^th and 16^th centuries weren’t exciting times when it comes to new technology. The biggest invention that literally changed Europe was the printing press. Invented by Johannes Gutenberg in 1450, this new technology would open up doors throughout Europe:  from raising the literacy of millions of people to creating religious and political upheavals.

Moreover, explorers were leaving the continent to search for new worlds, bring home treasures (granted, stolen treasures) to the delight of the new “consumer.”  Either through the sponsorship of kings and queens or late- to-be-formed trading companies, these explorers would gather ships, men and supplies for their journeys and in tow, there be would scientists, artists and map makers.

One such artist, and most famous, was John White (1540-1593), who joined two expeditions to Roanoke Island. A London gentleman who was both an artist and cartographer, White had ventured to the New World in 1585 with a group of men who had explored North Carolina. Two years later, he joined a second expedition, sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh. He would be named governor of the settlement.  The group landed on Roanoke Island in May of 1587 and consisted of 90 men, 17 women and 11 children. Their hope was to settle “Virginia.”  With full confidence of success, White’s own daughter and son-in-law were part of the group.

Fairly accurate map of Roanoke, 1585,
first voyage, by John White

During his stay, White made a series of watercolor drawings of the native people, fauna and flora. He was preparing a portfolio to take back home to the folks in England to see and understand the New World. Life seemed to go well for some time. His daughter even had a baby, Virginia Dare, the first English child to be born on American soil.  

Unfortunately, between supplies being low and tension with the natives, the settlers asked White to return to England and get needed help. So in late 1587, he reluctantly took off his homeland, not knowing then that he would never see any of the settlers again. 

My family and I visited Roanoke in 1999, and we witnessed what remains of the “Lost Colony,” as it is called today. There is an eerie feeling about the place, but certainly not as ghostly as it must have been when White returned in 1590, three years later (the war with England and Spain prevented him from doing so earlier). The place was deserted with collapsed buildings and the fort in disarray. Because of bad weather, White and his men could not spend more than a day on the island, but in that time they saw no evidence of violence. The word Croatoans, a peaceful tribe on another island, was carved into one of the posts in the fort.  White could only hope that the settlers had sought sanctuary with them. 

To this day the Lost Colony is a mystery with suppositions ranging from that they were all captured and done away with by the locals to the settlers assimilated into tribal life. In fact, there is a current study being conducted on DNA matching.

In any event, when White returned and waited to find passage back to the New World, his watercolors were included in a book by scientist Thomas Hariot, who had also traveled with White on a previous journey.   In 1590, Theodor De Bry made the engravings. De Bry took several liberties with the drawings, which you can see below. Not believing the natives sat in crouched positions when eating, he redrew the watercolors to show them with their feet outstretched in front of them. I suppose as an artist you were really at the mercy of the engraver at the time.

Here are some of the images from John White’s collection, along with De Bry's engavings. It's interesting to see the differences from one to the other. The entire lot are held under lock and key at the British Museum and only exhibited every decade or so. There are only 70 watercolors in the collection. 

White's watercolor

Theodore's De Bry engraving

Notice how the man and woman are sitting at dinner.

De Bry thought it was better to show them eating, European style.

Some believe that the village wasn't
actually like this--too European with
perpendicular lines and such.

And De Bry's engraving is even more suspicious.

Coming up next month: how did the colonial artists break away from the Euro-centric style of painting?