# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gheeraerts, Marcus (1561-1635)

​GHEERAERTS, GHEERAEDTS, GEERAERTS, GERARDS, or GARRARD, MARCUS, the younger (1561–1635), painter, born at Bruges in 1561, was son of Marcus Gheeraerts the elder [q. v.] by his first wife. He is stated to have been a pupil of Lucas De Heere [q. v.], and as such to have been entered in the guild of St. Luke at Antwerp in 1577. But the actual entry in the guild-book is to a different effect, and refers to his father. De Heere's painting-school at Ghent was broken up in 1568, when he, the elder Gheeraerts, and others who embraced the reformed religion took refuge in England. The younger Gheeraerts may possibly have been taught by De Heere during the latter's residence in England, though he more probably was his father's pupil. In 1577 or 1578 either the father or the son drew the procession of the knights of the Garter, which was subsequently engraved by Hollar for Ashmole's ‘Institution, Laws, and Ceremonies of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.’ This may very well be an early work of the younger Gheeraerts, though it is usually attributed to his father. Subsequently Gheeraerts acquired a great reputation for his portraits, and became the fashionable court-painter of the age. His portraits were remarkable for their truth to nature, and are always well painted, though their manner seems somewhat hard and cold. The rich costumes and accessories are always carefully executed. He painted Elizabeth several times, the most noticeable examples being the small full-length portrait at Welbeck, belonging to the Duke of Portland, the portrait with a fan of white feathers, belonging to Lord Tollemache, and those at Burghley House and Hampton Court, painted in her old age. Many other court notabilities were painted by him. The portrait of William Camden in the Bodleian Library at Oxford was executed by him in 1609, and signed ‘Marcus Gheeraedts.’ On 19 May 1590 Gheeraerts was married at the Dutch church, Austin Friars, to Magdalena de Crits of Antwerp, a relative no doubt of his father's second wife, and of John De Critz [q. v.], the queen's sergeant-painter. By her he had six children, baptised at the Dutch church, including two sons of the name Marcus, the younger being born in 1602. After the death of Elizabeth, Gheeraerts continued in his position as court-painter to James I and Anne of Denmark, and painted portraits of their two sons, Princes Henry and Charles. He died in London on 19 Jan. 1635, in his seventy-fourth year. His own portrait, painted by himself in 1627, was etched by W. Hollar in 1644. Gheeraerts is mentioned by Francis Meres, in his ‘Wit's Commonwealth’ (1598), among the notable painters in England. His name occurs in various returns of foreigners resident in London; in 1593 he is returned as ‘Marks Garratt, housekeeper; borne in Bruges in Flanders; Maudlyn his wife, born in Andwarpe in Brabonde; a Paynter; one daughter;’ in 1611, among the goldsmiths, ‘Marcus Garrard of Bruges: 2 children; living here 49 years;’ and again in 1618 as ‘Marcus Garret; born at Bridges in Flaunders; noe free denizen; picture drawer to his majesty; professing the Apostolick faith taught and held by the church in England; sovereign King James.’ Among the most important pictures attributed to Gheeraerts are: ‘The Procession of Queen Elizabeth to Blackfriars on 16 June 1600, of which two examples exist, one at Sherborne Castle, belonging to Lord Digby, and ​a similar picture at Melbury, belonging to Lord Ilchester (Vertue engraved this picture for the Society of Antiquaries, but it was then wrongly described as a ‘Visit of Elizabeth to Hunsdon House in 1571’); and ‘The Conference of English and Spanish Plenipotentiaries in 1604,’ purchased for the National Portrait Gallery at the Hamilton Palace sale in July 1882. Portraits by Gheeraerts are at Woburn Abbey, Penshurst, Barrow Green, Ditchley, Hatfield, Burghley, and other noble residences. He published a ‘Handbook to the Art of Drawing,’ a translation of which into English was published in 1674. Care should be taken to distinguish from his works the pictures by Geraert Pietersz van Zyl, in imitation of Vandyck, who signed his works ‘Geraers.’
L. C.