posterior to 1586. Of the private life of this distinguished man few particulars are known; and of these few a portion rest on rather doubtful authority. Previously to his appearance, no man had so far succeeded in attracting the national attention of Scotland to productions in painting, as to render an artist a person whose appearance in the country was to be greatly marked: at that period of our history, too, men had other matters to occupy their minds; and it may well be believed, that, in passing through the fiery ordeal of the times, many men who in peace and prosperity might have had their minds attracted to the ornamental arts, were absorbed in feelings of a very different order, which hardly allowed them an opportunity of knowing, far less of indulging in the elegant occupations of peace. The father of Jamesone was Andrew Jamesone, burgess of guild of Aberdeen, and his mother was Marjory Anderson, daughter of David Anderson, one of the magistrates of that city. What should have prompted the parents of the young painter to adopt the very unusual measure of sending their son from a quiet fireside in Aberdeen, to study under Peter Paul Rubens in Antwerp, must remain a mystery. The father is said to have been an architect, and it is probable that he had knowledge enough of art to remark the rising genius of his child, and was liberal enough to perceive the height to which the best foreign education might raise the possessor of that genius. If a certain Flemish building projecting into one of the narrow streets of Aberdeen, and known by the name of "Jamesone's house," be the production of the architectural talents of the elder Jamesone, as the period of the style may render not unlikely, he must have been a man of taste and judgment. Under Rubens, Jamesone had for his fellow scholar Sir Anthony Vandyke, and the early intercourse of these two artists had the effect of making the portraits of each be mistaken for those of the other. In 1620, Jamesone returned to Aberdeen, and established himself as a portrait-painter. He there, on the 12th of November, 1621, married Miss Isobel Tosh,[1] a lady with whom he seems to have enjoyed much matrimonial felicity, and who, if we may judge by her husband's representation of her in one of his best pictures,[2] must have been a person of very considerable attractions; he had by her several children, of whom the sons seem to have all met early deaths, a daughter being the only child he left behind him.[3]
- ↑ The marriage is thus entered in the burgh records: "12th November, 1624, George Jamesoune, Isobell Tosche."
- ↑ This picture represents the painter himself, and his wife and daughter. The grouping is very neat, and the attitudes of the hands as free from stiffness as those of almost any picture of the age. The daughter is a fine round-cheeked spirited-looking girl, apparently about 12 years old. Walpole says this picture was painted in 1623. From the date of Jamesone's marriage, this must be a mistake. This picture was engraved by Alexander Jamesone, a descendant of the painter, in 1728, and a very neat line engraving of it is to be found in Dallaway's edition of Walpole's Anecdotes.
- ↑ The following entry in the council records of Aberdeen relates to the birth of one of Jamesone's children: "1629 yieris—George Jamesone and ——— Toche, ane sone, baptized be Mr Robert Baron the 27th day of July, callit William; Mr Patrick Done, Robert Alexander, Andrew Meldrum, William Gordone, god-fathers." The next notice of him which we find in the same authority shows, that on the 2d January 1630, he was present at the baptism of a child of "James Toshe," probably a relation of his wife, at which, it may be mentioned, William Forbes, bishop of Edinburgh, officiated. In October of the same year we find him again demanding a similar duty for his own family: "October, 1630 yeires, George Jamesone and Isobell Toshe, ane sone, baptized the 27th day, callit Paull; Paull Menzies of Kinmundie, provest, Mr Alexander Jaffray, bailzie, Mr David Wedderburne, Mr Robert Patrie, Patrick Jack, Patrick Fergusson, Andrew Strachan, godfathers." This
Soon after the above entry, there occurs one regarding the baptism of their eldest child, the sister of the painter, in these terms:
"The penult day July, 1586. Ando. Jamesone, Marjore Andersone, dochtar in mareage, callit Elspett; James Robertson, Edward Donaldson, Elspatt Cuttes, Elspatt Mydilton, witnesses."
