CORNELIUS JOHNSON
London 1593 - 1661 Utrech
Portrait of Colonel Edward Cornewall (1613-1708)
Oil on Canvas
25 x 30 in (63 x 76 cm)
Signed and dated, indistinctly, lower centre left: CJ Fecit 1636
Provenance
Galerie Sedelmeyer, Paris (1);
Sotheby's, London, July 4th 1951;
Alfred Karlsen, Beverley Hills, California;
Jack Covert Soles, USA.
This elegant and noble portrait is an excellent example of the work of Cornelius Johnson, one of the most gifted portrait painters practicing in England in the seventeenth century.
The sitter Edward Cornewall(2) was born in 1613 into a family of ancient Plantagenet descent, the younger son of John Cornewall of Berrington, (c.1576 - 1645) and Mary Barnaby (1597 - 1634).
In 1650 at the age of 37, he married Frances Pye, daughter of Sir Walter Pye, and widow of Sir Roger Vaughan of Moccas and Brewardine Castle in Herefordshire. It is said that they first met after Edward had been imprisoned for poaching in Moccas Deer Park. Upon seeing him, family legend relates that Frances was so taken with Edward's appearance that she both forgave his offences and also agreed to marry him. Portrayed in the present painting at the age of 23, his armour proclaims his military status, and the blue sash suggests he had already reached the rank of Colonel.
Edward survived the Civil War, and died at the extraordinarily ripe age of 95, seven years after his wife's death in 1701. He was succeeded by his son Henry, who having years earlier married a rich Dutch heiress, set about consolidating the family estates. Thereafter, the Cornewalls became significant landowners and increasingly important figures in the county - sitting in Parliament and on the Bench, and serving with varying degrees of distinction in the Navy and Militia.
Moccas was rebuilt and enlarged between 1776 and 1783 based on designs by Robert Adam, with the aid of landscape designs by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, later augmented by Humphrey Repton. While the family seat of Brewardine has been in ruins for many years, probably for centuries, Moccas Court survives today and is lived in by descendants of the Cornewalls, while the Cornewall's Berrington estate survives in Berrington Hall (National Trust).
BIOGRAPHY OF CORNELIUS JOHNSON
London 1593 - 1661 Utrecht
Cornelius Johnson was one of the most gifted portrait painters practicing in England in the seventeenth century. In December 1632, he was appointed 'his Majesty's servant in ye quality of Picture Drawer' to Charles I, the greatest connoisseur and collector in the history of the Royal Family. Johnson remained in the Royal employ until 1641, however the advent of Van Dyck in England inevitably overshadowed his royal patronage. While Van Dyck created grand and dazzling compositions of fashionable court figures, Johnson more commonly painted restrained and gentler depictions of aristocrats and the landed gentry, such as our sitter, Edward Cornewall.
Johnson was born in London, the son of Flemish émigrés. His parents were part of the great influx of Protestants from the Netherlands who fled the religious persecution that followed the Spanish conquest of Flanders and the fall of Antwerp. Ellis Waterhouse conjectured that Johnson may have trained in Holland (3), however Collins Baker was probably more accurate when he named Marcus Gheeraerts as his master in London. Not only do Johnson's first signed and dated works (which appear from 1619 onwards) use a form of inscription identical to that of Gheerhaerts, stylistically they also very much continue the Jacobean traditions encapsulated in that artist's work.
Johnson's art was best suited to the intimacy of the bust length portrait, where he was able beautifully to capture the reticence of the English aristocracy and landed gentry. As exemplified by our portrait, by the 1630s Johnson had perfected a style and pattern all his own for these half length portraits (a pattern which indeed was to influence Van Dyck's half lengths) with the figure being placed slightly lower in the composition than was customary, and the sitter portrayed in a gentle, almost wistful manner.
Johnson was still among the King's 'servants in ordinary of the chamber' in 1641, however as Vertue describes, he 'Stayd in England till the Troublesom civil war. Being terrified with those apprehensions & the constant persuasions of his wife went to Holland'. Thus he and his family left for Holland in October 1643, where he continued to paint into his final years.
The work of Cornelius Johnson is represented in many of the great country house collections and museums of England, including the Tate Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Ham House, Holkham Hall, Kedleston Hall, Rangers House, and Rousham House.
1. Galerie Sedelmeyer's wax seal is preserved on the stretcher. Charles Sedelemeyer (1837-1925) was one of the most important old master dealers of his day. Based in Paris, he was an advisor to such collectors as J. Pierpont Morgan, Rodolphe and Maurice Kann, and Marczell de Nemes. He published a series of catalogues of his gallery's holdings from 1894 - c.1915, and works that passed through his hands are now represented in some of the most important museums in the world.
2. A copy of the present painting, evidently of weaker quality and unsigned, was recently offered at Woolley & Wallis (July 16th 2008), with the sitter again identified as Edward Cornewall.
3. Ellis Waterhouse, Painting in Britain 1530 - 1790, 1953, p.38.