CUSTODIS, Hieronymos - b. 0 ?, d. ~1593 London - WGA

CUSTODIS, Hieronymos

(b. 0 ?, d. ~1593 London)

Flemish painter, active in England. Born in Antwerp, he probably went to England because of religious persecution, perhaps soon after the surrender of Antwerp to the Duque de Alba in 1585. Three signed and dated portraits survive, all painted in 1589, among them those of Sir Giles Brydges, 3rd Lord Chandos, and his 14-year-old daughter Elizabeth Brydges, later Lady Kennedy (both Woburn Abbey, Beds). The elaboration of the dress, the cool colours and the meticulous delineation of jewellery are reminiscent of the work of Nicholas Hilliard, and Custodis also seems to owe something to the English portrait painter George Gower.

Several other portraits dated between 1587 and 1593 are attributed to Custodis, including the companion portraits of Sir Francis Hynde and Lady Hynde (1591, University of Cambridge), on the basis of the distinctive inscriptions giving the age of the sitter.

Custodis was recorded as a member of the Dutch church of Austin Friars in 1592; his widow, a native of Brussels, was married there to Jan Jems of Antwerp on 27 December 1593. The artist may have been a victim of the outbreak of plague in that year.

A number of inscribed works, dated from 1593 to 1612, are attributed to an unknown follower of Custodis who may have inherited his pattern book.

An Elizabethan Courtier

The sitter in the portrait may well be Sir Thomas Drake (1556-1606), younger brother of the famous explorer Sir Francis Drake, as identified by a pencil inscription, ‘Sir T. Drake’, on the reverse of its former old frame.

The meaning of the intriguing motif in the upper left corner has been lost to us today. It depicts a vase of gillyflowers, a sparrow ‘nipping the bud’ of a gillyflower (carnation), above which is an inscription ‘fatto a tempo’, (‘done in time’).

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Portrait of Elizabeth Brydges, later Lady Kennedy

The sitter of the portrait is Elizabeth Brydges, later Lady Kennedy, daughter of Lord Chandos and maid of honour to Elizabeth I of England, aged 14. Elizabeth, whose charming portrait is embellished with a little dog and a finch on a spray of eglantine, was the ‘fair Mrs Brydges’ to whom the Earl of Essex showed so much attention as to offend Queen Elizabeth.

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Portrait of Lady Jane Hynde, née Verne

This is the companion piece of the portrait of her husband, Sir Francis Hynde.

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Portrait of Sir Francis Hynde

The picture bears a Latin inscription giving the ages of the subject as 58. Sir Francis, who died in 1597, had been a page to Edward VI and was responsible for adding the North wing with a long gallery on the first floor and a loggia in the basement of Madingley Hall. He is believed to have taken timber from Hardwick Wood and timber, lead and other materials from St Ethelreda’s church in Histon to use in his building work at the Hall.

The companion piece of the portrait represents his wife, Lady Jane Hynde, n�e Verne.

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Sir John Ashburnham

Sir John Ashburnham (1571-1620) is shown as a dashing young man of twenty-three in this portrait. His padded jacket and cartwheel ruff, the height of fashion, contrast with the miniature prayer book he holds in his right hand and perhaps suggest two sides of his personality.

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