Full-length life-size oil painting portrait of english explorer martin frobisher commissioned by the company of cathay to commemorate his 1576 northwest passage voyage and promote the planned follow-up expedition of 1577. It is the only surviving painting of a series of fifteen that netherlandish artist cornelis ketel made in england between 1576 and 1578 for the company. The fourteen lost paintings depicted english and inuit people involved with frobisher's three northwest passage voyages, as well as the ship gabriel. The only contemporary portrait of frobisher. […] his sword and dagger have matching handles, blued and gilt. The globe behind frobisher shows europe and the eastern coast of north america. At some point the painting was cut down on the right side, and part of the composition may have been lost. — dana josephson, in: josephson, dana (2019). Portrait of sir martin frobisher (1535?-1594). Digital bodleian. Frobisher stands gazing intensely out of the canvas. He wears a bosun's whistle around his neck (used for calling orders at sea) along with a rapier and dagger at his waist. In his left hand he carries an ornate wheel-lock pistol, his index finger ready on the trigger. These instruments have been 'carefully rendered' and suggest an elevated social status, while also to the 'nature and potential danger of his activities'. [. . ] although the paintings of frobisher, lok and hall were commissioned following the 1576 expedition, frobisher's extant portrait is dated 1577. It is possible that ketel took several months to finish the picture and dated it upon its completion; alternatively, the picture could have been strategically inscribed to coincide with fundraising for the company's second voyage. [. . ] ketel shows frobisher dressed head to toe in yellow hosen, breeches, and doublet, pictured as a gilded emblem for the company's prospects, a glowing beacon of its future fortunes. [. . ] while the company's choice to use the full-length format may reflect something of the influence of netherlandish art in england, it seems also to have been chosen to convey the monumental potential and historic importance of the expedition itself. — nicole blackwood, in: blackwood, nicole (2016). "meta incognita: some hypotheses on cornelis ketel's lost english and inuit portraits". Nederlands kunsthistorisch jaarboek (nkj) / netherlands yearbook for history of art 66: 31-37. Brill. He is comprehensively armed, perhaps a hint to potential interlopers, whilst around his neck, a whistle somewaht prematurely denotes high command at sea. — james mcdermott, in: mcdermott, james , ed. (in english) (2001) the third voyage of martin frobisher to baffin island, 1578, london: hakluyt society, p. Iv. Object Type: painting. Date: 1577. Place of creation: England. Dimensions: height: 208 cm (81.8 in); width: 93 cm (36.6 in). Medium: oil on canvas. Collection: Bodleian Library.
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