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II.—Sir Henry Unton and his Portrait: An Elizabethan Memorial Picture and its History*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2011

Roy C. Strong
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Extract

One of the strangest and best-known pictures in the National Portrait Gallery is that of Sir Henry Unton. He is depicted seated in a richly upholstered chair while around him there are grouped many extraordinary and wondrous scenes. We see him as a baby nursed by his mother; as a soldier accompanied by the panoply of war with tents, horse, armour, and attendant squires; on horseback, sun-shade in hand, riding through Italy, or escorted by trumpeters and servants into France. There are other scenes of banqueting, masquing, and revelry; but the mirth of festival gives way to counsel with learned divines and the solitude of study. There are also more sombre tableaux: a death-bed surrounded by weeping and praying ser-vants and a hearse draped in black being jogged through the bleak English countryside, while beggar women and children, the blind and lame, sit, grief-stricken, watching a gaunt procession of black-clad mourners. These are making their way towards a steepled church to the left, where a large congregation listens attentively to a sermon and before which there stands a splendid tomb, gaily tricked out in scarlet, black, and gold, on which there lies the recumbent effigy of a knight presided over by a lady attired in widow's weeds. All these relate in some way to the subject of the picture, Sir Henry Unton; in correct sequence they form a selective visual biography, and in this way the picture has value not only as a record of the sitter's features but as a unique historical document (pl. xxvi).

Type
Research Article
Information
Archaeologia , Volume 99 , 1965 , pp. 53 - 76
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1965

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References

1 The only previous study of the picture is Emden's, C. S. ‘Sir Henry Unton (1557–96), An Elizabethan Story Picture’, Oriel Papers, Oxford, 1948, pp. 1–8.Google Scholar

2 It also has affinities with motifs used in portraying the dead: see Pigler, A., ‘Portraying the Dead’, Acta Historiae Artium, iv (1956), 1–75.Google Scholar

3 Rep. Walpole Society, ii (1913), pl. xiv.

4 By John Souch, City of Manchester Art Gallery; rep.Waterhouse, E. K., Painting in Britain, 1530–1790, London, 1953, pl. 36.Google Scholar

1 Millar, O., The Tudor, Stuart, and Early Georgian Pictures in the Royal Collection, London, 1963, i, pp. 75–77. ii. pl- 31 rep.Google Scholar

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1 There is no full-length biography of Sir Henry Unton. The best account is in the D.N.B., s.v. Unton. Summaries are in Wood, A. à, Athenae Oxonienses, London, 1813, i, 647–8Google Scholar; The Unton Inventories, ed. Nichols, J. G., Berkshire Ashmolean Society, 1841, pp. L–Lxvii.Google Scholar

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1 Original Letters, ii, 340, 565; The Literary Remains of King Edward VI, Roxburghe Club, 1857, ii, 273.Google Scholar

2 Unton Inventories, pp. xxxvi–xxxviii

3 Ibid., p. xliv.

4 Cal. S.P. Domestic, 1581–90, p. 74.

5 Bartholomew Chamberlaine, A Sermon preached at Farington in Berkeshire, the seuenteene of Februarie 1587, London, 1591, dedication to Lady Unton.

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1 See D.N.B., s.v. Dudley, Robert, earl of Leicester. In 1584 Leicester, on the grounds of the Countess's lunacy, sought the Mastership of Malvern Chase (see Collins, A., Letters and Memorials of State, London, 1746, i, 297–8).Google Scholar

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1 Aquilecchia, G., ‘Lo stampatore londinese di Giordano Bruno e altre note per l'Edizione della “Cenci”,’ Studi di filologia italiana, xviii (1960), 101–2Google Scholar. I am indebted to Miss F. A. Yates for this reference.

2 Charles Merbury, A Briefe Discourse of Royall Monarchic, London, 1581, ‘Henry Unton to the virtuous reader’. On Merbury see D.N.B. They probably met in Italy where Merbury was for a long period in the seventies.

3 P.R.O., S.P. 78/7, no. 105. I quote from the translation in Cal. S.P. Foreign, 1582, pp. 87–88.

4 The date is given by Chambers, E. K., Elizabethan Stage, London, 1923, i, 164 n. 1, citing Ashmole's Berkshire, but I have not been able to locate it there. How exactly this connexion between Dorothy Wroughton and Lady Walsingham worked is not clear.Google Scholar

5 Unton Inventories, p. xlviii.

6 Ibid., p. xliii.

7 Ibid., p. xlv.

8 Mendoza to Juan de Idiaquez, 13th February 1583, Cal. S.P. Spanish, 1580–6, p. 443.

9 Wood, Athenae, i, 647; a passage in Leycesters Commonwealth also refers to him as ‘servant to Sir Christopher’; see Leycesters Commonwealth, ed. Burgoyne, F. J., London, 1904, p. 203.Google Scholar

1 Cal. S.P. Foreign, 1583, p. 145.

2 Ibid., p. 161.

3 Ibid., pp. 212–13, 280, 348, 389–91.

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5 Cal. S.P. Foreign, 1583–4, p. 66. A report of 2nd May 1584 states that Unton has gone to Rome, Ibid., p. 481; also Hist. MSS. Comm., Hatfield, iii, 28.

6 Unton to Walsingham, May 24th/June 3rd, 1583. P.R.O., S.P. 78/9, no. 110.

7 Cal. S.P. Foreign, 1583–4, p. 476.

8 Cal. S.P. Domestic, 1581–90, pp. 264, 384–5; Unpublished Documents relating to the English Martyrs, Catholic Record Soc., 1908, i, 125.Google Scholar

9 Some he sold to his brother, see below, p. 67; this can best be followed in the account of the Unton lands in 1596, P.R.O., S.P. 15/33, no. 68; see also E. St. John Brooks, Sir Christopher Hatton, London, 1946, pp. 306–9.Google Scholar

10 Acts of the Privy Council, 1586–7, p. 191.

11 Ibid. 1587–8, pp. 344–5.

12 T. Milles, Catalogue of Honor, London, 1610, p. 820.

1 Cal. S.P. Foreign, 1583, p. 423; also Lansdowne MS. xxxvii (55), f. 138.

2 P.R.O., S.P. 78/9, no. 110; Cal. S.P. Foreign, 1583–4, p. 657, are both on this theme.

3 Cal. S.P. Spanish, 1580–6, p. 554, includes an ‘Umpton’ with train of eight horses and ten servants as part of Leicester's entourage.

4 Cal. S.P. Foreign, 1586–7, p. 151.

5 Ibid., p. 214.

6 Leycester Correspondence, ed. Bruce, J., Camden Soc., 1844, pp. 415–17.Google Scholar

7 On William Hatton, see Brooks, Hatton, pp. 23, 70, 113, 322–3, 349, 354, 360; see below, p. 69, for a dedication which mentions the closeness of their friendship.

8 Leycester Correspondence, pp. 306–8.

1 Hind, A., Engraving in England in the 16th and 17th Centuries, Cambridge, 1952, i, 134, pl. 63 rep.Google Scholar

2 Beard, C. R., ‘English or Flemish?’, Connoisseur, xciii (1934), 73 rep. The head-and-shoulders version now in the Tate Gallery (ex E. Peter Jones coll.) is dated 1586.Google Scholar

3 Acts of the Privy Council, 1587–8, p. 121; 1590, pp. 318–20; 1590–1, pp. 36–37, 156–7.

4 Acts of the Privy Council, 1588, pp. 201–2.

5 Foster, J., Alumni Oxoniensis, Oxford, 1893, iii, 1530.Google Scholar

6 All the correspondence for this embassy is printed in Correspondence of Sir Henry Unton, ed. Stevenson, J., Roxburghe Club, 1847;Google Scholar a photostat of Unton's diary for the embassy, now in the University of Virginia, is deposited in the Berkshire Record Office, Reading; other letters are in Hist. MSS. Comm., Hatfield, iv, 134, 154,186–7; generally on the diplomacy, see W. Camden, History of Princess Elizabeth, London, 1688 ed., pp. 449–50; Harrison, G. B., The Life and Death of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, London, 1937, pp. 45–68;Google ScholarCheyney, P., A History of England from the Defeat of the Spanish Armada …, London, 1914, i, 253–76;Google Scholar see especially Black, J. B., Elizabeth and Henry IV, Oxford, 1914, pp. 43 ff.Google Scholar

1 Elizabeth to Sir Thomas Leighton, 2nd September 1591, Unton Correspondence, pp. 55–57.

2 Thomas Lake to Sir Robert Sidney, 22nd November 1596, Hist. MSS. Comm., Penshurst, ii, 188–9.

3 Unton to Hatton, 6th November 1591, Unton Correspondence, p. 129.

4 See letters in Nicolas, Sir Harris, Memoirs of the Life and Times of Sir Christopher Hatton, London, 1847, pp. 490–3.Google Scholar

1 Unton Inventories, pp. lv-lvi, lists the sources in which it appears; first printed in T. Milles, Catalogue of Honor, London, 1610, p. 820.

2 For Unton and the parliament of 1593, see Neale, J. E., Elizabeth I and her Parliaments, London, 1957, pp. 298–312.Google Scholar

3 P.R.O., S.P. 12/244, no 91

4 Hist. MSS. Comm., Hatfield, iv, 68–69.

5 Ibid., pp. 452–3.

6 Ibid., p. 353.

7 A. Standen to Anthony Bacon, 17th November 1593, Lambeth Palace MS. 950, no. 267.

8 Unton to Sir Robert Cecil, 20th January 1594/5, Hist. MSS. Comm., Hatfield, v, 93.

9 He is listed as a J.P. in 1592, Acts of the Privy Council, 1592, p. 259; Deputy Lieutenant for Berkshire in 1593, Ibid., 1592–3, p. 31.

10 Chambers, Elizabethan Stage, i, 64–65; Unton had failed to obtain the office he was seeking in 1594, Hist. MSS. Comm., Hatfield, iv, 499.

1 Collins, Letters and Memorials, i, 382.

2 Hist. MSS. Comm., Penshurst, ii, 188–9, 195.

3 Hist. MSS. Comm., Hatfield, v, 280.

4 Hist. MSS. Comm., Penshurst, ii, 197; on the departure of Unton see Ibid., pp. 199, 203.

5 A great deal of the correspondence is printed in Murdin, J., State Papers, London, 1759, pp. 701 ff.Google Scholar; Birch, T., Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, London, 1754, i, 353 ff.Google Scholar Others not printed in Murdin are in Hist. MSS. Comm., Hatfield, vi, 11–12, 43, 46–47, 103, 119; and P.R.O., S.P. 78/37. On the general background see Camden, History of Elizabeth, pp. 496–9; Black, Elizabeth and Henry IV, pp. 92–98; Pévost-Paradol, M., Elisabeth et Henri IV, Paris, 1863;Google Scholar Cheyney, History of England, ii, 122–32; Harrison, Earl of Essex, pp. 93–95.

6 Birch, Memoirs, p. 354; cf. Murdin, State Papers, p. 701.

7 Unton to Essex, 7th January 1595/6, Murdin, State Papers, pp. 706–7.

8 Unton to Elizabeth, 17th January 1595/6, Murdin, State Papers, pp. 707–11; cf. also 3rd February, letter to Elizabeth, Ibid., pp. 717–19.

9 Unton to Essex, 4th March 1595/6, Murdin, State Papers, p. 730.

10 Unton to Burghley, 17th March 1595/6, Murdin, State Papers, p. 731.

1 The doctor's account of Unton's death is in P.R.O., S.P. 78/37, f. 119.

2 Quoted, Cheyney, History of England, p. 130.

3 P.R.O., S.P. 78/37, ff. 112–13; Murdin, State Papers, PP- 733–4.

4 Edmondes to Burghley, 22nd March, P.R.O., S.P. 78/37, no. 117; Hist. MSS. Comm., Hatfield, vi, 103.

5 Dudley Carleton to John Chamberlain, 22nd March 1595/6, P-R-0., S.P. 78/37, no. 105.

6 Unton Inventories, p. lviii.

7 See below, p. 68.

8 Funebria Nobilissima ac Praestantissimi Equitis D. Henrici Untoni, ad Gallos Ms Legati …, Oxford, 1596.

9 Lettres missives de Henri IV, ed. M. B. de Xivrey, Paris, 1848, iv, 555–9.

1 Gentleman's Magazine, Ixvi (1796), pt. ii, pp. 1070–1; Unton Inventories, pp. lxvi–lxvii.Google Scholar

2 Birch, Memoirs, i, 423. He states that he must return by Lady Day ‘having great payments to make then’ (Ibid.,., p. 424).

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4 V.C.H. Berks, iv, 495.

5 Ibid. iv. 493.

6 Ibid, iv, 494.

7 Unton Inventories, pp. 1–14.

1 V.C.H. Berks, iv, 493.

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7 Ibid., p. 493.

8 R. Ashley, L'Uranie, London, 1589.

9 On Gwinne, see D.N.B.; Wood, Athenae, ii, 415–18.

1 R. Lewes, A Sermon Preached at Paules Crosse, Oxford, 1594, dedication.

2 On Wright see D.N.B.

3 There was much difficulty in obtaining leave from Trinity College for Wright to go; see Acts of the Privy Council, 1591–2, pp. 342, 408–9.

4 Unton Correspondence, pp. 165–6.

5 Wood, Athenae, i, 648; Unton Inventories, p. liv note.

6 S. Parmenius Budaeus, Paean ad psalmum Davidis CIV conformatus, London, 1582; items by and material relevant to Parmenius are in Hakluyt, R., The Principall Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques …, Glasgow, 1904 ed., viii, 23–33, 67, 78–80, 81–84. I am indebted to Professor David Quinn for these references.Google Scholar

1 The First Book of Consort Lessons collected by Thomas Morley, 1599 and 1611, ed. Beck, S., New York, 1959, pp. 18–19.Google Scholar

2 J. Case, Apologia Musices, Oxford, 1588, dedication.

3 Information kindly communicated by Mr. David Greer.

4 Unton Inventories, pp. lxxii–lxxiii; several of his children were baptized at Hatford, the last in 1607.

1 Hist. MSS. Comm., Hatfield, iv, 362.

2 Photostat of the manuscript in the University of Virginia deposited in the Berkshire Record Office.

3 Wilkes had interceded for him in 1593; see P.R.O., S.P. 12/244, no 92; Hist. MSS. Comm., Hatfield, iv, 453.

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1 First Book of Consort Lessons, pp. 17–18. The masque is reproduced as the frontispiece.

2 Ibid., pp. 23–24. It is not entirely clear in the Memorial Picture whether the musicians are meant to be hidden, thus emphasizing the ‘heavenly’ or ‘celestial’ role of music in the masque.

3 Carleton to John Chamberlain, 8th August 1596, P.R.O., S.P. 12/259, no 93.

1 Dorothy Unton appealed to him for favours throughout her life, see Cal. S.P. Domestic, 1628–9, p. 506; 1629–31, p. 299; 1631–33, p. 155.

2 See below, p. 74.

3 Unton Inventories, pp. lxxxvii–lxxxviii.

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2 Letters of Fohn Chamberlain, ii, 437.

3 Unton Inventories, p. lxvii note.

4 Ibid., p. 32.

5 Ibid., pp. 18, 25.

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7 Unton Inventories, p. 31.

8 V.C.H. Berks, iv, 490.

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