1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hilliard, Lawrence
HILLIARD, LAWRENCE (d. 1640), English miniature painter. The date of his birth is not known, but he died in 1640. He was the son of Nicholas Hilliard, and evidently derived his Christian name from that of his grandmother. He adopted his father’s profession and worked out the unexpired time of his licence after Nicholas Hilliard died. It was from Lawrence Hilliard that Charles I. received the portrait of Queen Elizabeth now at Montagu House, since van der Dort’s catalogue describes it as “done by old Hilliard, and bought by the king of young Hilliard.” In 1624 he was paid £42 from the treasury for five pictures, but the warrant does not specify whom they represented. His portraits are of great rarity, two of the most beautiful being those in the collections of Earl Beauchamp and Mr J. Pierpont Morgan. They are as a rule signed L.H., but are also to be distinguished by the beauty of the calligraphy in which the inscriptions round the portraits are written. The writing is as a rule very florid, full of exquisite curves and flourishes, and more elaborate than the more formal handwriting of Nicholas Hilliard. The colour scheme adopted by the son is richer and more varied than that used by the father, and Lawrence Hilliard’s miniatures are not so hard as are those of Nicholas, and are marked by more shade and a greater effect of atmosphere. (G. C. W.)