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| Anonymous English miniature painter William Lord Compton, 1st Earl of Northampton ca. 1600 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| attributed to Peter Oliver Alexander the Great ca. 1630-47 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |
"Alexander the Great is depicted in profile to the left, wearing a helmet with the winged figure of Pegasus over long flowing hair, set against a dark grey background. The miniature is painted in grisaille with reddish-brown flesh tints shaded with grey in a manner which suggests that this is a late work by Peter Oliver, produced at a time when his work had been influenced by his limned copies of Titian and other Venetian artists. The subject-matter is unusual, and may perhaps refer to the antique cameo heads of Roman Emperors included with Jean Clouet's illuminated manuscript, Les Commentaires de la Guerre Gallique (1518-20). It is possible that Peter Oliver could have been made familiar with this source when he visited France in 1611 and 1613 to paint Marie de' Medici, although no documentary evidence exists in support of this claim. Peter Oliver was trained as a miniaturist by his father, Isaac Oliver, and became court limner to Charles I. He produced portrait miniatures in an increasingly free and naturalistic style until ca. 1630 when he began to focus primarily on producing limned copies of Old Master paintings from Charles I's collection. These were sufficiently highly regarded to earn him a pension of £200 from 1636 onwards, although this was not sustained after the outbreak of the Civil War."
– from curator's notes at the Royal Collection
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| attributed to Peter Oliver Watercolor copy of Dance of Death woodcut by Hans Holbein painted before 1647 for Charles I Royal Collection |
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| John Hoskins Queen Henrietta Maria wearing masque costume ca. 1632 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Isaac Oliver Princess Elizabeth at 14, later Queen of Bohemia ca. 1610 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Nicholas Hilliard King James I 1614 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Nicholas Hilliard King James I ca. 1609-15 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| David des Granges after Anthony van Dyck Margaret Lady Tufton ca. 1638-50 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| David des Granges after William Dobson George Hay, 2nd Earl of Kinnoul ca. 1634-44 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| John Hoskins Portrait of an unknown woman ca, 1612-15 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Anonymous English miniature painter possibly Edward Sackville, 4th Earl of Dorset ca. 1635-52 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Isaac Oliver Anne of Denmark, Queen of England in masque costume c. 1610 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |
A century after Isaac Oliver painted his miniature (above) of the masque-loving Queen Anne in her fancy dress costume, the image was rediscovered. In about 1717 it was engraved with care and accuracy by George Vertue (below). Yet clearly the identity of Isaac Oliver's sitter had gone missing. Instead, the more famous name of Queen Elizabeth attached itself to the image. Queen Anne's seventeenth-century masque costume in George Vertue's hands became an outfit for Elizabeth that resembled nothing she had ever actually worn. Queen Anne's distinctive profile similarly passed itself off to the eighteenth century with no problem as Elizabeth's, despite the existence of hundreds of authentic portraits of both figures.
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| Elizabetha Regina engraving by George Vertue after Isaac Oliver's 1610 miniature of Anne of Denmark ca. 1717 Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| The Golden Speech of Queen Elizabeth engraved by George Vertue after Isaac Oliver's 1610 miniature of Anne of Denmark ca. 1717 Royal Collection, Great Britain |