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Portrait of Anne Hyde, Duchess of York

Nicholas Dixon

1662

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Baroque Early Baroque Italian Baroque Portrait Waist-length Hair

Dominant colour

Portrait of Anne Hyde, Duchess of York is a 1662 unspecified by Nicholas Dixon, a Baroque work, depicting Waist-length Hair, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Nicholas Dixon
When & what style?: 1662 · Baroque
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a small, finely painted portrait of Anne Hyde, her face turned slightly to the side. She wears a dark dress with a white lace collar, pearls at her neck and ears. This is a miniature—tiny enough to hold in your hand, but packed with detail. Anne was the first wife of the future King James II, and this portrait was likely made for court circles. Miniatures like this were often exchanged as gifts or tokens of loyalty. To see how tiny portraits changed over time, look up England, 17th century.

The story of this work

Overview

Though knowledge about his birth and training remain obscure, Nicholas Dixon is known to have been a favorite miniature painter of the English court at the close of the seventeenth century. He succeeded Samuel Cooper (1608/9–1672) as limner to King Charles II in 1673 and was Keeper of the King’s Picture Closet, for which he was granted an irregularly paid annuity of £200. Dixon painted a substantial number of ambitiously scaled miniatures—which became increasingly uncommon among practitioners of the art form when the more constrictive support of ivory supplanted vellum in the early 1700s.…

Did you know?

This portrait is after a well-known and frequently copied oil painting by Peter Lely; it is nearly identical but with crimson and gold drapery in place of the dressing table and mirror.

Read the full account in the museum source.