Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/185

Rh portraits of himself,) with his hat on: neither is the permission characteristic of the monarch, nor its adoption by the artist; and the peculiarity may be better attributed to a slavish imitation of his master Rubens, in a practice which had been sanctioned by the choice of Carracci and Guido.

It is probable that the patronage and notice of the monarch were the circumstances which introduced the paintings of Jamesone to the notice of the nobility. He appears, soon after the period we have alluded to, to have commenced a laborious course of portrait-painting, then, as now, the most lucrative branch of the art; and the many portraits of their ancestors, still in possession of families dispersed through various parts of Scotland, attest the extent of his industry. The Campbells of Glenorchy, then an opulent and powerful family, distinguished themselves by their patronage of Jamesone. What countenance he may have obtained from other quarters we do not know, and the almost utter silence regarding so great a man on the part of contemporaries, makes a document which Walpole has rescued from oblivion, relative to his labours for the family of Glenorchy, highly interesting. From a MS. on vellum, containing the genealogy of the house of Glenorchy, begun in 1598, are taken the following extracts, written in 1635, page 52: "Item, the said Sir Coline Campbell, (eighth laird of Glenorchy,) gave unto George Jamesone, painter in Edinburgh, forking Robert and king David Bruysses, kings of Scotland, and Charles L, king of Great Brittane, France, and Ireland, and his majesties quein, and for nine more of the queins of Scotland, their portraits, quhilks are set up in the hall of Balloch (now Tay mouth), the sum of twa hundreth thrie scor pounds." "Mair the said Sir Coline gave to the said George Jamesone for the knight of Lochow's lady, and the first countess of Argylle, and six of the ladys of Glenurquhay, their portraits, and the said Sir Coline his own portrait, quhilks are set up in the chalmer of deas of Balloch, ane hundreth four scoire punds." There is a further memorandum, intimating that in 1635, Jamesone painted the family tree of the house of Glenorchy, eight feet long by five broad. What may have become of the portraits of Robert and David Bruce, and of the nine queens, which must have taxed the inventive talents of the artist, we do not know. Their loss may be, however, of little consequence, as we can easily argue from the general effect of Jamesone's productions, that his talent consisted in giving life and expression to the features before him, and not in design. The other paintings have, however, been carefully preserved by the family into whose hands they fell. They consist of portraits of Sir Duncan Campbell, the earl of Airth, John earl of Rothes, James marquis of Hamilton, Archibald lord Napier, William earl of Marischal, chancellor Loudoun, lord Binning, the earl of Mar, Sir Robert Campbell, Sir John Campbell, and the genealogical tree mentioned in the memorandum. All these are, we believe, still to be seen in good preservation in Taymouth castle, where in 1769 they were visited by Pennant, who thus describes the genealogical tree: "That singular performance of his, the genealogical picture, is in good preservation. The chief of the Argyle family is placed recumbent at the foot of a tree, with a branch; on the right is a single head of his eldest son, Sir Duncan Campbell, laird of Lochow; but on the various ramifications are the names of his descendants, and along the body of the tree are nine small heads, in oval frames, with the names on the margins, all done with great neatness: the second son was first of the house of Breadalbane, which branched from the other above four hundred years ago. In a corner is inscribed 'The Geneologie of the House of Glenorquhie, quhairof is descendit sundrie nobil arid worthie houses. Jameson faciebat, 1635.