Antonis Mor

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Self-portrait.
Self-portrait.
Portrait of Granvelle.
Portrait of Granvelle.
Portrait of Queen Mary I of England, 1554.
Portrait of Queen Mary I of England, 1554.
Alleged portrait of Jane Dormer, Queen Mary's Lady-in-Waiting and later Duchess of Feria.
Alleged portrait of Jane Dormer, Queen Mary's Lady-in-Waiting and later Duchess of Feria.
For the musician, see Anthony More (musician).

Sir Antonis Mor (c. 1520 - between 1576 and 1578) was a Dutch portrait painter, much in demand by the courts of Europe. He has been referred to as Antoon, Anthonius, Anthonis, or Mor van Dashorst, Antonio Moro, Anthony More, etc.[1]

Contents

[edit] Early life and education

Mor was born in Utrecht, Netherlands. What is known of his early life is that his artistic education commenced under Jan van Scorel. His earliest work is probably a portrait at Stockholm, dated 1538.

[edit] Painting career

It is said that the group of Knights of St. John, at Utrecht, supposed to have been painted about 1541, and a picture of two pilgrims at Berlin, dated 1544, together with the portrait of a woman unknown, in the Lille gallery, were probably among his earliest works, although their authenticity has not been proved.

[edit] Patronage

In 1547, he was received as a member of the Venerable Guild of St. Luke at Antwerp, and shortly afterwards (about 1548) he attracted the attention of Cardinal Granvelle, Bishop of Arras, who became his steady patron, and presented him to the Emperor Charles V.

Of the portraits executed during the commencement of his Granvella career, two are especially notable: of the bishop himself in the imperial gallery at Vienna, and of the Duke of Alba, which now belongs to the Hispanic Society of New York.

He probably visited Italy first in 1550, for we hear of him in Rome, where he copied some works by Titian, notably the Danaë.

[edit] Visit to Portugal

He was sent by Queen Mary of Hungary to Portugal, doubtless his first visit to that country, and among its notable results are a portrait of the Infanta Maria and one of Queen Catherine of Portugal, both in the Prado, and those of King John III and his wife Catherine, preserved in Madrid. After this he returned to Madrid, where he painted the portrait of Maximilian of Bohemia; he was in Rome again in 1552.

It has been seriously suggested, but on insufficient evidence, that one of the masterpieces of the Prado gallery, the portrait of the unknown young Cardinal, hitherto attributed to Rafael, and regarded as one of his noblest works, should be credited to Mor. From Rome, he went to Genoa, and thence again to Madrid. In 1553 he was sent to England, where he painted the portrait of Queen Mary I, perhaps one of his very noblest works; and in all probability the portraits of Sir Henry Sidney, and of Ambassador Simon Renard. That of Renard's wife was not painted until three years later. To this period should be attributed the miniature of Mary Tudor in the Duke of Buccleuch's collection, two portraits of Elizabeth at the age of twenty-one, one of which once belonged to Propert, and another even more notable, of Roger Ascham, now in the collection of Pierpont Morgan.

Portrait of Thomas Gresham.
Portrait of Thomas Gresham.

[edit] Later work

At about this time Mor married, but we know little of his wife, save that her name was Metgen, and she is supposed to have been a widow. He became a man of great means, acquired property, and was known as Moro van Dashorst when residing in Utrecht.

At the end of 1554, he was back in Holland, where he painted a portrait of Prince William I of Orange (William the Silent), and other notable works. A little later he executed his own portrait, now in the Uffizi Gallery, one of his wife, now in the Prado (see image gallery below), a portrait of a knight of St. James at Budapest, one of Alexander Farnese at Parma, the portrait of an unknown man in Verona, and a very extraordinary religious picture of the Resurrection, now at Nijmegen in a private collection.

His portrait of Jean Le Cocq, one of his wife, and that called Don Carlos in the gallery at Kassel, those of the Duchess de Feria (alleged), and of a widow, in the Prado, of himself in Lord Spencer's collection, and of Campana, the Brussels painter, in the Basel gallery, are of a subsequent period.

Several very important works, executed towards the close his life, include: Elizabeth Queen of Spain, in the Bischoffs-heim collection (London), Jacopo da Trezzo and three other fine portraits, in the Stuers gallery (Paris), and the famous portrait of his own master, Jan van Scorel, belonging to the Society of Antiquaries (London).

The last document that refers to him was one issued at Antwerp, in 1573. He probably died there shortly afterwards.


[edit] Anthology of major works

Many of Mor's portaits were copied by others. Among those whose works have been confused with Mor's are Alonso Sánchez Coello, Francisco de Holanda, and Cristóvão de Morais Lopes. A large number of engravings based on his work also circulated.

[edit] Gallery

John III of Portugal

Queen Catherine of Habsburg

William of Orange

Philip II of Spain in armour

Metgen, wife of the artist

Margaret of Parma

Henry Lee of Ditchley

[edit] Bibliography

  • Annemarie Jordan, Retrato de Corte em Portugal. O Legado de António Moro (1552-1572, (Lisbon: Quetzal Editores, 1994)
  • Georges Marleir, Anthonis Mor van Dashorst (Antonio Moro), Académie royale de Belgique ,Classe des beaux-arts, Mémoires (Brussels: M. Hayez, 1934).

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The Getty Union index lists a record 29 variants [1]
  2. ^ Annemarie Jordan, Retrato de Corte em Portugal. O Legado de António Moro (1552-1572) (Lisbon: Quetzal Editores, 1994), p. 17
  3. ^ Castaldo (1500-1562) was a soldier of Neapolitan origin who took part in the Battle of Pavia, the Sack of Rome, the Battle of Mühlberg etc. Charles V rewarded him with various titles and honors.
  4. ^ Jordan, p. 32.
  5. ^ Jordan, p. 31.
  6. ^ Jordan, pp. 36, 163.
  7. ^ Jordan, pp. 61, 164.
  8. ^ Jordan, p. 97; P. G. Matthews, “Portraits of Philip II of Spain as King of England,” Burlington Magazine, vol. 142, no. 1162 (Jan. 2000), p. 17.
  9. ^ Jordan, pp. 70, 168.
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