Robert Peake the Elder was an English painter active in the later part of Elizabeth I’s reign and for most of the reign of James I. In 1604, he was appointed picture maker to the heir to the throne, Prince Henry; and in 1607, serjeant-painter to King James I – a post he shared with John De Critz. He is often called ‘the elder’ to distinguish him from his son, the painter and print seller William Peake, and from his grandson, Sir Robert Peake.
About Robert Peake the Elder in brief
Robert Peake the Elder was an English painter active in the later part of Elizabeth I’s reign and for most of the reign of James I. In 1604, he was appointed picture maker to the heir to the throne, Prince Henry; and in 1607, serjeant-painter to King James I – a post he shared with John De Critz. Peake was the only English-born painter of a group of four artists whose workshops were closely connected. Between 1590 and about 1625, they specialised in brilliantly coloured, full-length “costume pieces” that are unique to England at this time. He is often called ‘the elder’ to distinguish him from his son, the painter and print seller William Peake, and from his grandson, Sir Robert Peake, who followed his father into the family print-selling business. He was first heard of professionally in 1576 in the pay of the Office of the Revels, the department that oversaw court festivities for Elizabeth I. His training would have been similar to that of John de Critz and Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, who may have been pupils of the Flemish artist Lucas de Heere. He painted cabins, carvings, and armorials on the ship the Prince Royal in 1611. He also painted a translation of Books I-V of Sebastiano Serlio’s Architettura, which he dedicated to the prince in 1610.
His son William later followed in his father’s footsteps as a freeman of the Goldsmiths’ Company and a portrait painter. His work is not recorded in the Rutland accounts at Belvoir in the 1590s. A signed portrait from 1593, known as the ‘Military Commander’ shows Peake’s early style. Other portraits have been grouped with it on the basis of similar lettering. Its three-quarter-length portrait format is typical of the time. According to art historian Roy Strong, he was ‘well established’ in London by the late 1580s, with a ‘fashionable clientele’ and ‘a good-looking man’. The painter is also listed in Sir David Murray’s accounts for three miniatures of the prince on 14 July 1609; he was paid £3 for any picture of his tennis balls than for any other picture of any other prince. The payments were listed from the Privy Purse to ‘Mr Peck’ on 14 October 1608, and on 14 September 1609, for two pictures of Prince Henry. In about the same time, Isaac Oliver was paid 10s 10d for a picture of Hisness which was given in exchange for exchange for a portrait of the King’S Highness which he had painted for the king. In 1593 and 1594, Peake painted a portrait called ‘The Military Commander,’ which shows him as a military commander.
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This page is based on the article Robert Peake the Elder published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 05, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
