Isaac Oliver and the Essex Circle

Abstract

This paper argues that the patronage of Isaac Oliver by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and his circle in the 1590s was central to both the development of the artist’s practice and to Essex’s campaign for power at court in the latter years of the reign of Elizabeth I. Oliver’s work for Essex marked the artist’s shift from middle-class to court patronage, and stimulated the production, for the first time, of multiple replica miniatures of non-royal sitters. New identities for miniatures are proposed, and new physical evidence for Oliver’s use of “pattern” miniatures, as opposed to miniatures that are simply unfinished, is discussed. Finally, Oliver’s work at the court of James VI and I is considered, in the context of the lingering loyalty to the late, disgraced Earl of Essex.

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