George Gower (painter)

Self-portrait by George Gower (1579)

George Gower (around 1540 ; † August 1596 ) was an English painter. The armada portrait of Queen Elizabeth I is attributed to him.

Life

Little is known about his early life. He is known to be a grandson of Sir John Gower of Stittenham , Yorkshire .

Gower was originally from Yorkshire. His success as a painter began in the early 1570s. At that time he was living in the Parish St Clement Danes, London . In 1581 he succeeded in taking over the post of Serjeant Painter (a kind of court painter) to the Queen, previously held by William Herne . In 1584 Gower tried together with Nicholas Hilliard to establish a monopoly on royal portraits. He received a patent that granted him or his representative the lifelong privilege of being the only one to be able to make portraits of the royal family in the form of oil paintings, copper and wood engravings. A locally limited exception was only provided for Hilliard. From 1593 Gower worked as a painter for the Navy.

plant

Armada portrait of Queen Elizabeth I

Three works are definitely by Gower: a self-portrait (1579) and portraits of Thomas Kytson and his wife Elizabeth (1573). He is also credited with portraits of other members of the Kytson family, of over 20 nobles (1570 to 1586) and Queen Elisabeth (1588). Characteristic of Gower's works are precisely drawn contours and the slightly protruding, staring eyes of those portrayed.

literature

Gower, George . In: Ulrich Thieme , Fred. C. Willis (Ed.): General lexicon of visual artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 14 : Giddens-Gress . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1921, p. 454 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).

Web links

Commons : George Gower - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

George Gower on the Union List of Artists Names, The J. Paul Getty Trust
Portraits of Gower in the Tate Britain Gallery, London

Individual evidence

^ Karen Hearn (ed.): Dynasties: Painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530-1630. Rizzoli, New York 1995, ISBN 0-8478-1940-X , p. 107.
↑ ^a ^b Gower, George. In: A. Hoffmann: Lives of the Tudor. Age 1485-1603. Osprey Publishing, London 1977. Retrieved from the British Biographical Archive, p. 274.

personal data
SURNAME	Gower, George
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English painter
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1540
DATE OF DEATH	August 1596

[1] Karen Hearn (ed.): Dynasties: Painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530-1630. Rizzoli, New York 1995, ISBN 0-8478-1940-X , p. 107.

[hoff-2] Gower, George. In: A. Hoffmann: Lives of the Tudor. Age 1485-1603. Osprey Publishing, London 1977. Retrieved from the British Biographical Archive, p. 274.