Unidentified English artist, Portrait of a Naval Officer aged 24, 1619, Oil on canvas, 114x 85 cm, Queen’s House, Greenwich, on loan from the National Maritime Museum, Caird Archive Collection
This Jacobean portrait by an anonymous English artist is a fascinating example of the strong tradition of including symbols in portraiture. This practice was common during the Tudor period and remained popular in the Jacobean era. In later decades, this long tradition faded with the arrival of many Netherlandish artists. The painting contains many unresolved puzzles, which add to its charm. It shows the sitter’s age and the date. He is depicted as an officer or captain of a large four-masted warship. The visible inscription, possibly ‘Calum Christus,’ makes little sense in this context, but it may suggest that the portrait is posthumous and that the symbols represent how he might have wished to be remembered.
The three-quarter portrait depicts a man dressed in an expensive black doublet of silk with black silk buttons and braid on the front and sleeves. A broad band of gold lace is at the waistline, almost hidden by large silk bows with silver aglets. His left hand rests on the brim of his black hat on a table covered with a red cloth. He holds a leather-bound book, possibly a Bible, in his right hand. The background is a plain dark wall, with a framed picture of an English flagship in the top right-hand corner. This type of portrait indicates a wealthy, intellectual, devoted Christian rather than a flamboyant merchant captain, adding further puzzles to its secrets