Puzzles and Portraits

Decorative art in early modern Britain often featured elements copied from Dutch and Italian prints.

The artworks at Bolsover are novel, however, in combining the traditions of mural painting in the churches and palaces of Europe with theatrical set design and portraiture to dissolve the distinction between the real and painted worlds.

The artists who created the decoration have not been identified, but they may have come from the Netherlands, bringing a detailed knowledge of continental art.

William and his wife Elizabeth probably guided the invention. They were familiar with the leading fashions at the royal court, and William had travelled through France, Germany and Northern Italy in his youth.

There are clues in the pictures to suggest that William and his family appear both as real portraits, and in allegorical roles.

Even today it is a sociable and competitive game for us to wonder at the faces, spot the references, and contemplate the possible meanings.

The temple painting gives the first clues.

Light seems to come from the real windows in the room, and the arch could be an open doorway. If the space was filled with people it might remind us of grand Renaissance murals like Raphael’s Mass at Bolsena in the Vatican Palace, Rome.

Light, presumably from lamps, is also coming from behind the pillars and the painted arch. The platform, the pillars, and skyscape are reminiscent of apron stages, such as that of the Globe Theatre in London, as well as the theatrical sets of Inigo Jones. Perhaps this is a stage, lit for a performance.

The fourth Temperament, which the painter excluded, was Sanguine.

This was the most sociable and fun-loving humour. When William and Elizabeth were enjoying themselves at Bolsover they would be taking the role of these lovers, enacting the missing print.

Maybe everyone is sanguine when they enter the Little Castle?

The phlegmatic temperament is relaxed and easy-going.

If William and Elizabeth had the power to enter the paintings, then the painted characters might refer to them. They could even be shape-shifters taking roles.

We can find links to them by spotting differences from the original prints.

In the painting, a rope has been added beside the fisherman’s boat. It falls in the shape of a knotted snake, one of the Cavendish emblems.

Also, one fish has become a knife, perhaps reminding us that William’s family profited from the local metalwork industry.

Choleric is the temperament associated with violence and anger.

In the painting the background has become peaceful wooded countryside, like that of the Midlands where William and his family owned land.

Also, the foot soldier has acquired a red sash that is similar to the sash that William wore as a Knight of the Bath.

The Melancholic temperament is associated with pining lovers, old age and greed.

The changes to this image are intriguing and complex. The globe on the right shows the alchemical symbol for lead, a metal associated with melancholy. On the left, there is a chest of gold. This may remind us that the Cavendishes made a fortune from lead mining.

Changing lead to gold is the ultimate alchemical miracle.

The face of the man is copied from a print depicting Albertus Magnus, one of the founding fathers of alchemical science. His title, Count Bolstaedt, suggests, ludicrously, that he was lord of Bolsover, and so could be William’s ancestor.

The lady might be compared with the woman in choleric whose confident stance, rude vegetables and young daughter show that she is far from chaste. The two swans on the river may allude again to Venus.

The paintings hint at the physical and spiritual aspects of love, challenging the viewer to consider female virtue and fertility.

The surface of the pictures appears open, expanding the room. The tails and manes of the struggling animals swish out of the picture space while the vaulting of the real hall continues into the mythical ancient world.

Visitors might be reminded of the famous murals at the Palazzo Te in Mantua.

The gentleman on the left may be a portrait of William, and he may appear again in the opposite corner of the room, dressed as Moses.

Performances here probably raised smiles by referencing the pictures.

Jonson’s show of 1634 opened with an ‘overseeing’ army officer, and soon after William wrote comic scenes about the Ten Commandments and David and Solomon.

These pictures may have been added for the royal visit of 1634. If the King and Queen stood in front of the doors to the balcony they would represent Peace and Concord just as William and Elizabeth represented Sanguine.

The little angels on the panels above would proclaim their virtue.

One of the angels carries a trumpet that could signify fame. He descends with a garland of red and white roses.

If William stood in the light by the window, he would complete the scheme, while Christ looked on.

Any visitor can receive the garland standing in that spot.

In Jonson’s entertainment of 1634 Eros, the god of love, wore a garland of red and white roses.

Eros may have been an allegorical role for William. As the host, he was the ‘Love’ of Jonson's title 'Love’s Welcome at Bolsover'.

Perhaps, charmingly, Eros had descended from the painted world, bringing this garland with him.

Some of the painted figures are derived from a print of a ceiling at the Palace of Fontainebleau, by Primaticcio, that is now lost. They have been rearranged and altered to create another puzzle.

The youth at the centre of the ceiling may represent Apollo. The position of his arms echoes that of Jesus in the Heaven Closet, and he too may be signalling to William to rise in a glorious ascent.

A banner over the glazed doors displays the Biblical quotation ‘All is But vanite’. The word ‘vanity’ could mean a show or a masque, as well as vice or emptiness.

This may be the final clue that the cycle of paintings is a dramatic as well as artistic invention.