Painters in the Reign of^een Elizabeths 1259 



penfion; the remaining ten pounds to hij 

 other fifterj feme goods to his fervant 

 maid \ and all the reft of his effeds, plate, 

 jewels, rings, &c. to his fon Laurence Hil- 

 liard, his fole executor. But the greateft 

 obligation we have to Hilliard is his having 

 contributed to form * 



ISAAC OLIVER, f 



Hitherto we have been obliged to owe 

 to other countries the beft performances 

 exhibited here in painting. But in the 

 branch (miniature) in which Oliver ex- 

 celled, we may challenge any nation to 

 fiiow a greater mafter, if perhaps we ex- 

 cept a few of the fmaller works of Hol- 

 bein. 



* John Betts, whom I have mentioned as painting 

 the portrait of Sir John Godfalve, is faid by Vertue to 

 have learned of Hilliard, and is called Designer in 

 Hall's chronicle about the yeai: 1576, where too is men- 

 tioned one Tyrrel, a carver in wood. 



f I mull not difguife, that, though Oliver was pro- 

 bably born in England, he was in all likelyhood of 

 French extradlion : In his will he fpells his name Oli- 

 ver, but on his drawings writes it Olivier. Vertue 

 found mention of one ** Aubin Olivier natif de Boify, 

 inventeur des engins de monoyes a Moulinsj" and in 

 R 2 Palmer's 



