File:William Compton Earl of Northampton.jpg

This miniature, framed in a black cloisonné enamel locket which would have been worn pinned to the body or on a ribbon at the neck, encapsulates many of the qualities which made the newly-developed art form of the portrait miniature so popular at the Tudor Court. The sitter was for many years identified as James I, but is now known to be William Compton, 1st Earl of Northampton, the owner of the suit of Greenwich armour so vividly depicted here. The armour, with the plumed helm visible to the sitter's right, is a statement as much about Compton's status as about his martial qualities. However, the attention in this small image is focussed not on the expensive armour with its painstakingly-depicted lavish gilt decoration but on the single lovelock suspended from an earring in the sitter's right ear and highlighted against the white pleated ruff on which it rests. The lovelock was a fashionable way to display a lock of hair belonging to a loved one in the late sixteenth century. It reveals that the intention of this miniature was to show the subject not only as knight and lord, but as suitor or lover, and serves as a reminder of the intensely private nature of this art form. The miniature has been ascribed in the past to both Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619) and his pupil Isaac Oliver (c. 1565?-1617). Although it is undoubtedly of high quality, it appears to be an amalgam of their styles. Other artists named in connection with this miniature more recently are Sir James Palmer (1584-1657) Gentleman of the Bedchamber to James I, and Edward Norgate (1581-1650).