Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel
Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel (* July 7, 1585; † October 4, 1646 ) was an English nobleman during the reign of King James I and Charles I. He held important positions and led for the royal family on many diplomatic missions. the European continent. The posterity however, he was known less as a politician than as art and antique collectors.
Particularly noteworthy is his relationship with the Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck, the first time 1620 came at his instigation to England. After only one year, he entered the service of James I, and took orders of the outstanding men of the court. Under Charles I. Van Dyck was knighted.
Life
Howard was born in relative poverty, as his family, the Howards, Queen Elizabeth had fallen out of favor towards the end of the reign. He was the son of Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel, and Anne Dacre, a daughter of Thomas Dacre, 4th Baron Dacre. His father knew Howard not because he was accused before he was born for treason and imprisoned until his death in 1595 at the Tower of London.
Under James I succeeded Howard's big uncles, to make the family farm in Howard socially acceptable again, Howard was back in 1604 his title and part of the lands. The next year he married Lady Alathea Talbot, the youngest daughter of Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, and granddaughter of Bess of Hardwick. Lady Aletheas heritage consisted of vast lands in Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and Derbyshire, which also included the city of Sheffield, it formed the basis of the assets of the Howards. Despite the enormous income from the lands Howard was deeply in debt due to his activities as a collector.
From 1622 until his death he held the office of Earl Marshal, from 1640 to 1644, he was also Lord Steward of the Household. He reasoned thus the tradition that the Office of the Earl Marshal is always exercised by a member of the Howard family, later it became hereditary.
During the reign of Charles I. Howard served on several occasions as an envoy of continental courts, which sparked his interest in art. In 1642 he accompanied the English princess Mary Henrietta Stuart to her marriage to William II of Orange to Holland. Due to the already suggestive English Civil War Howard preferring not to return to England. He lived first in Antwerp, later moved a villa near Padua, where he died in 1646. His eldest son, Henry Frederick Howard inherited the title of Earl of Arundel, and was ancestor of the Dukes of Norfolk and the Barons Mowbray, the youngest son of William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford, was ancestor of the Earls and Barons Stafford.
Howard made repeated petitions to the king, who asked for a restoration of the family the title Duke of Norfolk. 1644 at least the title of Earl of Norfolk, he was awarded, only his grandson, Thomas Howard, the title of the Duke of Norfolk was awarded again.
Art collectors and sponsors
Howard was with masters of the period, such as Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jan Lievens several portraits of himself and his family in order. He also bought works by Hans Holbein and Adam Elsheimer. In addition, Howard was the patron of the draftsman and engraver Wenceslaus Hollar, whom he met during one of his trips in 1633 and brought to England.
The majority of Howard's collection of drawings is (among others by Leonardo da Vinci, Hans Holbein the Elder, Hans Holbein the Younger, Raphael, Parmigianino, Hollar and Dürer) now in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. His collection of antique statues - England's most important - he left the University of Oxford. It is now in the Ashmolean Museum.
He patronized the architect Inigo Jones, who accompanied him in 1613 on the honeymoon of Princess Elizabeth and the Elector Frederick V of the Palatinate in Heidelberg and on to Italy. There, Jones studied the works of Italian architects and met with students Palladio, whose teachings he made known in England.