PAINTING ONE

A LITTLE MORE THAN KIN, and LESS THAN KIND

Hamlet’s first line in the play (and the title of this painting), is an aside to the audience giving them a clue that there is more to this play than what’s being portrayed on the surface. I wanted this first painting to also be an aside to the viewer  - a direction that this isn’t just any production of Hamlet, but the first staging of it as an autobiography of the true author: Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.

The first step in producing any play, is determining the conceptual approach through discussions between the director, the designers and any other creative staff. In this painting, the viewer sees the workspace of a scenic designer. In the mid-ground there is a scenic model of a vast castle hall gallery filled with portraiture and coats of arms. On the wall behind the model and on the table, we see the trappings of the scenic designers work: paints, brushes, drawing tools, research images and books. The hands in the foreground are visually directing the viewer to draw a line between the research images of Edward de Vere and the figural model piece of Hamlet. The hands also represent both of my roles - as director and designer of this imagined production. They’re each wearing seasonally different sleeves showing the temporal element of the theatrical production process, as well as the multiple roles I’ve taken on within the framework of this imagined narrative. 

Since this production of Hamlet is being staged as an autobiography of Edward de Vere, the research images draw parallels between Kronborg Castle, the seat of the royal family of Denmark, and Hedingham Castle, de Vere’s ancestral home. The most recognizable architectural feature of that castle is a giant Norman arch - one of the largest in England. That piece of interior architecture inspired the scenic design model (the central arch, and the downstage right and left double archways), as seen in the research photo of the castle interior behind the model.

While the portraiture on the walls of the model would appear to be that of Hamlet’s ancestors and family members, they are all actually portraits of the counterparts to the characters in Hamlet, in de Vere’s own life: Elizabeth I as Gertrude, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, as Claudius, William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley as Polonius, among others. This is inferred by the stacked coats of arms above the upstage arch, that of Queen Elizabeth surmounting the crowned shield of the royal family of Denmark. Those same characters are represented by the three model pieces on the stage right side of the model. The viewer can also see the overturned model piece of Ophelia on the downstage portion of the model - representative of de Vere’s complicated and sometimes estranged relationship with his wife, Anne Cecil (daughter of William Cecil). One other portrait of note (seen peeking through the small arch on the right of the model) is of Peregrine Bertie, de Vere’s brother in law. Bertie was the English ambassador to the court of Denmark in the early 1580’s. Upon his return to England, he circulated a pamphlet to other members of court, discussing the details of Danish court life (including friends he’s made by the name of Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern). That pamphlet and it’s popularity at the time, gave de Vere a relevant and convincing foreign setting within which to lampoon Dudley, Cecil and to a lesser extent, Elizabeth. The heraldic devices along the top edge of the wanescoting on the model include clues to the real life counterparts of the characters in the play, other authorship candidates, as well as de Vere’s rumored parentage.

Some of the plays on words and easter eggs in this painting include the bottle of Ox gall (a watercolor medium), the “fact is” Factis eraser, the ruling pen, the English Castles  book featuring the cygil I use to mark my artwork, the heraldry book written by a fictitious Wilbur Swinton (a play on words around the boar in de Vere’s family crest) and featuring de Vere’s coat of arms, and the five paintbrushes representing an earl’s coronet, but with the three protruding upwards much like the three plumes of the Prince of Wales’ crest; a nod to the Prince Tudor theory.

Portraits and photographs:

1. Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester by unknown artist, 2. Robert Dudley by Nicholas Hilliard, 3. William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley by unknown artist, 4. Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex by Marcus Gheerarts, 5. Robert Dudley by Van der Meulen, 6. Queen Elizabeth I by Hilliard (Pheonix Portrait), 7. Queen Elizabeth I by William Segar (Ermine Portrait), 8. Queen Elizabeth I by Gheerarts, 9. Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley by unknown artist, 10. Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford by Hilliard, 11. Edward de Vere by Cornelius Ketel, 12. Queen Elizabeth I by unknown artist (Sonnet Portrait), 13. Edward de Vere by unknown artist (Welbeck Portrait), 14. Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southhampton by Hilliard, 15. William Cecil by unknown artist, 16. Anne Cecil by unknown artist, 17. Unidentified renaissance man, likely Edward de Vere by Veronese, 18. Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby by Robert Peake the Elder, 19. Edward de Vere - Welbeck Portrait, 20. Edward de Vere by Hilliard, 21. Hedingham Castle, 22. Hedingham Castle interior, 23. Kronborg Castle, Denmark, 24. Hedingham Castle, 18th century engraving, 25. Kronborg Castle, coastal view, 26. Unidentified man, likely Edward de Vere by Hilliard. 

Heraldic Devices:

a. Howard, b. Essex, c. Dudley, d. Cecil, e. Golding, f. Boelyn, g. Tudor, h. de Vere, i. Seymour, j. Wriothesley, k. Bertie, l. Stuart, m. Jonson, n. Marlowe, o. Hatton, p. Raleigh, q. Shakspere, r. Sidney, s. Bacon