Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel
Encyclopedia
Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel KG
, (7 July 1585 – 4 October 1646) was a prominent English
courtier during the reigns of King James I
and King Charles I
, but he made his name as a Grand Tourist and art collector rather than as a politician. When he died he possessed 700 paintings, along with large collections of sculpture, books, prints, drawings, and antique jewellery. Most of his collection of marble carvings, known as the Arundelian Marbles
, was eventually left to the University of Oxford
.
He is sometimes referred as the 2nd Earl of Arundel; it depends on whether one views the earldom obtained by his father as a new creation or not. He was also 2nd or 4th Earl of Surrey, and later, he was created 1st Earl of Norfolk. Also known as 'the Collector Earl'.
having fallen into disgrace during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
owing to their religious conservatism and involvement in plots against the Queen. He was the son of Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel
and Anne Dacre
, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Dacre, 4th Baron Dacre of Gilsland. He never knew his father, who was imprisoned before Arundel was born.
Arundel's great-uncles returned the family to favour after James I ascended the throne, and Arundel was restored to his titles and some of his estates in 1604. Other parts of the family lands ended up with his great-uncles. The next year he married Lady Alatheia (or Alethea) Talbot
, a daughter of Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury
, and a granddaughter of Bess of Hardwick
. She would inherit a vast estate in Nottinghamshire
, Yorkshire
, and Derbyshire
, including Sheffield
, which has been the principal part of the family fortune ever since. Even with this large income, Arundel's collecting and building activities would lead him heavily into debt.
During the reign of Charles I, Arundel served several times as special envoy to some of the great courts of Europe. These trips encouraged his interest in art collecting.
In 1642 he accompanied Princess Mary for her marriage to William II of Orange. With the troubles that would lead to the Civil War brewing, he decided not to return to England, and instead settled first in Antwerp and then into a villa near Padua
, in Italy. He died there in 1646, having returned to Roman Catholicism he nominally abandoned on joining the Privy Council, and was succeeded as Earl by his eldest son Henry Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel
who was the ancestor of the Dukes of Norfolk and Baron Mowbray
. His youngest son William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford
-the ancestor of what was first the Earl of Stafford and later Baron Stafford
.
Arundel had petitioned the king for restoration of the ancestral Dukedom of Norfolk
. While the restoration was not to occur until the time of his grandson, he was created Earl of Norfolk in 1644, which at least ensured the title would stay with his family. Arundel also got Parliament to entail his earldoms to the descendants of the 4th Duke of Norfolk.
, and Anthony Van Dyck
. He acquired other paintings by Hans Holbein
, Adam Elsheimer
, Mytens, Rubens, and Honthorst.
He collected drawings by Leonardo da Vinci
, the two Holbeins, Raphael, Parmigianino
, Wenceslaus Hollar, and Dürer
. Many of these are now at the Royal Library
at Windsor Castle
or at Chatsworth
.
He had a large collection of antique sculpture, the Arundel Marbles
mostly Roman, but including some he had excavated in the Greek world, which was then the most important in England, and was later bequeathed to Oxford University. It is now in the Ashmolean Museum
.
The architect Inigo Jones
accompanied Arundel on one of his trips to Italy 1613-14, a journey which took both men as far as Naples. In the Veneto Arundel saw the work of Palladio
which was to become so influential to Jones's later career. Soon after the latter's return to England he became Surveyor to the King's Works.
Amongst Arundel's circle of scholarly and literary friends were James Ussher
, William Harvey
, John Selden
and Francis Bacon.
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Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...
, (7 July 1585 – 4 October 1646) was a prominent English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
courtier during the reigns of King James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
and King Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
, but he made his name as a Grand Tourist and art collector rather than as a politician. When he died he possessed 700 paintings, along with large collections of sculpture, books, prints, drawings, and antique jewellery. Most of his collection of marble carvings, known as the Arundelian Marbles
Arundel marbles
The Arundelian Marbles are a collection of Greek marbles collected by Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel in the early seventeenth century, the first such comprehensive collection of its kind in England...
, was eventually left to the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
.
He is sometimes referred as the 2nd Earl of Arundel; it depends on whether one views the earldom obtained by his father as a new creation or not. He was also 2nd or 4th Earl of Surrey, and later, he was created 1st Earl of Norfolk. Also known as 'the Collector Earl'.
Biography
Arundel was born in relative penury, his aristocratic familyHoward family
The Howard family is an English aristocratic family founded by John Howard who was created Duke of Norfolk by Plantagenet monarch Richard III of England in 1483. However, John was also the eldest grandson of the 1st Duke of 1st creation...
having fallen into disgrace during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
owing to their religious conservatism and involvement in plots against the Queen. He was the son of Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel
Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel
Saint Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel was an English nobleman. He was canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970, as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales...
and Anne Dacre
Anne Howard, Countess of Arundel
Anne Howard , Countess of Arundel , was an English noblewoman, who became a Catholic conspirator, having converted to the faith in the early 1580s...
, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Dacre, 4th Baron Dacre of Gilsland. He never knew his father, who was imprisoned before Arundel was born.
Alethea Howard, Countess of Arundel
Alethea Howard, 13th Baroness Furnivall, Countess of Arundel , née Lady Alethea Talbot, was the wife of Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel...
, a daughter of Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury
Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury
Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, 7th Earl of Waterford, KG was was a peer in the peerage of England.He was the eldest surviving son of George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, by the latter's first marriage to Gertrude Manners, daughter of the first Earl of Rutland.In 1568, Gilbert was...
, and a granddaughter of Bess of Hardwick
Bess of Hardwick
Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury (c. 1521 – 13 February 1608, known as Bess of Hardwick, was the daughter of John Hardwick, of Derbyshire and Elizabeth Leeke, daughter of Thomas Leeke and Margaret Fox...
. She would inherit a vast estate in Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, and Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, including Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, which has been the principal part of the family fortune ever since. Even with this large income, Arundel's collecting and building activities would lead him heavily into debt.
During the reign of Charles I, Arundel served several times as special envoy to some of the great courts of Europe. These trips encouraged his interest in art collecting.
In 1642 he accompanied Princess Mary for her marriage to William II of Orange. With the troubles that would lead to the Civil War brewing, he decided not to return to England, and instead settled first in Antwerp and then into a villa near Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
, in Italy. He died there in 1646, having returned to Roman Catholicism he nominally abandoned on joining the Privy Council, and was succeeded as Earl by his eldest son Henry Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel
Henry Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel
Henry Frederick Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel, PC was an English noble and the second son of Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel and Lady Alethea Talbot, later 13th Baroness Furnivall...
who was the ancestor of the Dukes of Norfolk and Baron Mowbray
Baron Mowbray
Baron Mowbray is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created by writ for Roger de Mowbray in 1283. It was held for a long time by the Mowbray and Howard Dukes of Norfolk. The title was united with the Barony of Segrave in 1368, when John Mowbray, 1st Earl of Nottingham and 5th Baron Mowbray...
. His youngest son William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford
William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford
Blessed William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford was the youngest son of Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, and his wife, the former Alethea Talbot. He was a supporter of the Royalist cause before being implicated in the Popish Plot and executed for treason...
-the ancestor of what was first the Earl of Stafford and later Baron Stafford
Baron Stafford
The title Baron Stafford, referring to Stafford, has been created several times in the Peerage of England. In the 14th century, the barons of the 1st creation were made earls. Those of the fifth creation, in the century became first viscounts and then earls....
.
Arundel had petitioned the king for restoration of the ancestral Dukedom of Norfolk
Duke of Norfolk
The Duke of Norfolk is the premier duke in the peerage of England, and also, as Earl of Arundel, the premier earl. The Duke of Norfolk is, moreover, the Earl Marshal and hereditary Marshal of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the...
. While the restoration was not to occur until the time of his grandson, he was created Earl of Norfolk in 1644, which at least ensured the title would stay with his family. Arundel also got Parliament to entail his earldoms to the descendants of the 4th Duke of Norfolk.
Collector and art patron
Arundel commissioned portraits of himself or his family by contemporary masters such as Daniel Mytens, Peter Paul Rubens, Jan LievensJan Lievens
Jan Lievens was a Dutch painter, usually associated with Rembrandt, working in a similar style.-Biography:According to Arnold Houbraken, Jan was the son of Lieven Hendriksze, a tapestry worker , and was trained by Joris Verschoten. He was sent to Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam at about the age of 10...
, and Anthony Van Dyck
Anthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next...
. He acquired other paintings by Hans 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...
, Adam Elsheimer
Adam Elsheimer
Adam Elsheimer was a German artist working in Rome who died at only thirty-two, but was very influential in the early 17th century. His relatively few paintings were small scale, nearly all painted on copper plates, of the type often known as cabinet paintings. They include a variety of light...
, Mytens, Rubens, and Honthorst.
He collected drawings by Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
, the two Holbeins, Raphael, Parmigianino
Parmigianino
Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola , also known as Francesco Mazzola or more commonly as Parmigianino or sometimes "Parmigiano", was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker active in Florence, Rome, Bologna, and his native city of Parma...
, Wenceslaus Hollar, and Dürer
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
. Many of these are now at the Royal Library
Royal Library, Windsor
The office of Royal Librarian, in the Royal Collection Department of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, is responsible for the care and maintenance of the royal collection of books and manuscripts owned by the Sovereign in an official capacity, as distinct from those owned...
at Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
or at Chatsworth
Chatsworth House
Chatsworth House is a stately home in North Derbyshire, England, northeast of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield . It is the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, and has been home to his family, the Cavendish family, since Bess of Hardwick settled at Chatsworth in 1549.Standing on the east bank of the...
.
He had a large collection of antique sculpture, the Arundel Marbles
Arundel marbles
The Arundelian Marbles are a collection of Greek marbles collected by Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel in the early seventeenth century, the first such comprehensive collection of its kind in England...
mostly Roman, but including some he had excavated in the Greek world, which was then the most important in England, and was later bequeathed to Oxford University. It is now in the Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
.
The architect Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...
accompanied Arundel on one of his trips to Italy 1613-14, a journey which took both men as far as Naples. In the Veneto Arundel saw the work of Palladio
Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio was an architect active in the Republic of Venice. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily by Vitruvius, is widely considered the most influential individual in the history of Western architecture...
which was to become so influential to Jones's later career. Soon after the latter's return to England he became Surveyor to the King's Works.
Amongst Arundel's circle of scholarly and literary friends were James Ussher
James Ussher
James Ussher was Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625–56...
, William Harvey
William Harvey
William Harvey was an English physician who was the first person to describe completely and in detail the systemic circulation and properties of blood being pumped to the body by the heart...
, John Selden
John Selden
John Selden was an English jurist and a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law...
and Francis Bacon.
Children
- James Howard, Lord Maltravers (1607–1624)
- Henry Howard, 22nd Earl of ArundelHenry Howard, 22nd Earl of ArundelHenry Frederick Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel, PC was an English noble and the second son of Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel and Lady Alethea Talbot, later 13th Baroness Furnivall...
(1608–1652) - William Howard, 1st Viscount StaffordWilliam Howard, 1st Viscount StaffordBlessed William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford was the youngest son of Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, and his wife, the former Alethea Talbot. He was a supporter of the Royalist cause before being implicated in the Popish Plot and executed for treason...
(1614–1680)
External links
- Rubens' portrait of the Earl, at the National Gallery
- Van Dyck's portrait at the Getty Museum
- Mytens' portrait at the National Portrait Gallery
- Portrait of Thomas Howard, count of Arundel and his wife Alathea Talbot Sir Anthony Van Dyck
Sources
- Mary Hervey, The Life, Correspondence and Collections of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel (Cambridge, 1921).
- David Howarth, Lord Arundel and his Circle (New Haven and London, 1985).
- Edward Chaney, The Grand Tour and the Great Rebellion (Geneva, 1985).
- Edward Chaney, The Evolution of the Grand Tour, 2nd ed (London, 2000).
- Ernest B. Gilman, Recollecting the Arundel Circle (New York, 2002).
- Edward Chaney, 'Evelyn, Inigo Jones, and the Collector Earl of Arundel', John Evelyn and his Milieu, eds. F. Harris and M. Hunter (British Library, 2003).
- Edward Chaney ed., The Evolution of English Collecting (New Haven and London, 2003)
- Edward Chaney, Inigo Jones's 'Roman Sketchbook', 2 vols (London, 2006).
- Edward Chaney, "Roma Britannica and the Cultural Memory of Egypt: Lord Arundel and the Obelisk of Domitian", in Roma Britannica: Art Patronage and Cultural Exchange in Eighteenth-Century Rome, eds. D. Marshall, K. Wolfe and S. Russell, British School at Rome, 2011, pp. 147–70.
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