Jane Small - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Jane Small was a daughter of Christopher Pemberton, a Northamptonshire gentleman. She is the subject of a well known portrait miniature

Portrait miniature

A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolour, or enamel.Portrait miniatures began to flourish in 16th century Europe and the art was practiced during the 17th century and 18th century...

by the artist Holbein

Hans Holbein the Younger

Hans Holbein the Younger was a German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced religious art, satire and Reformation propaganda, and made a significant contribution to the history...

Life

Jane Pemberton married Nicholas Small, a London cloth merchant, probably in about 1540.It is around this time that the Holbein portrait was commissioned. Nicholas Small died in the winter of 1565/66, and Jane remarried within the year, to Nicholas Parkinson. Her new husband went on to be Master of the Clothworkers' Company in 1578/79. Parkinson died in the winter of 1581/82. At this time Jane was living in Paddington

Paddington

Paddington is a district within the City of Westminster, in central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965...

, in the rectory, a house big enough to have been let to Sir John Popham, the attorney general, in the 1580s. Jane also held a lease on 'The Hand', a property on Thames Street

Thames Street

Thames Street may refer to:* Oxpens Road, Oxford*Thames Street *Thames Street...

, alongside the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. Jane died in May 1602. In later life she lived with her daughters, and preferred to be addressed as Jane Small. She died whilst staying with her granddaughter in Warwickshire, but her burial place is unknown.

Family

Jane Small had six children by Nicholas Small. After her second husband died intestate, her eldest son, Matthew Small, inherited, but only after a court hearing before the Star Chamber

Star Chamber

The Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. It was made up of Privy Counsellors, as well as common-law judges and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters...

. A younger daughter, Elizabeth, married Jasper More of Shropshire. Jane's granddaughter, Katherine More

Katherine More

Katherine More was the centre of a seventeenth century controversy in England.Katherine was the youngest daughter of an ancient Shropshire family...

, was at the centre of a seventeenth century controversy, when her four children (Jane's great grandchildren) were transported to America on board the Pilgrim Fathers' ship, the Mayflower

Mayflower

The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...

The Holbein Portrait

Jane Small's historical significance derives from a fine portrait miniature by Hans Holbein the Younger

Hans Holbein the Younger

. She has been identified as the subject from the coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

painted on a separate piece of vellum

Vellum

Vellum is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on, to produce single pages, scrolls, codices or books. It is generally smooth and durable, although there are great variations depending on preparation, the quality of the skin and the type of animal used...

at the back of the miniature, that of Robert Pemberton of Lancashire and of Rushden

Rushden

Rushden is a town and civil parish in the county of Northamptonshire, England.The parish of Rushden covers an area of some and is part of the district of East Northamptonshire. The population of Rushden was estimated at around 28,368, making it the fifth largest town in the county...

, Northamptonshire, who died in 1594. The arms are dated 1566 but were painted in the 17th century. Scholars at first supposed that the sitter was Margaret Throckmorton (d. 1576), Robert Pemberton's wife, who had connections with the royal court. More recently, Jane Small has been established as the sitter.

The simplicity of the sitter's dress reflects her relatively modest status; most of the Englishwomen Holbein painted were attached to the court. The inscription records the sitter as in her 23rd year, but the date of the painting is not known for certain. It has been suggested that the portrait may have been commissioned to mark her engagement. She is shown wearing a carnation, which may symbolise her betrothal, and holding a leaf or sprig. Holbein's portrait, with its rich blue background, crisp outlines, and absence of shading, follows the conventions of the genre. Such miniatures were worn like a jewel.

In his last years, Holbein raised the art of the portrait miniature

Portrait miniature

to its first peak of brilliance. His large pictures had always contained a miniature-like precision. He applied this skill to the smaller form, somehow retaining his monumentality of effect. His miniature portrait of Jane Small is considered a masterpiece of the genre. In the view of art historian Graham Reynolds:

[Holbein] portrays a young woman whose plainness is scarcely relieved by her simple costume of black-and-white materials, and yet there can be no doubt that this is one of the great portraits of the world. With remarkable objectivity Holbein has not added anything of himself or subtracted from his sitter's image; he has seen her as she appeared in a solemn mood in the cold light of his painting-room.

Life

Family

The Holbein Portrait

See also

Further Reading