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Nicholas Hilliard was born in Exeter England in 1547. He was the youngest son of Richard Hilliard, high-sheriff of Devon in 1560, and of a London goldsmith’s daughter. He died in 1619.

He was the most celebrated of English miniaturists. He is known for his work as the court miniaturist and engraver, and received his early training as a goldsmith and jeweler in Exeter. Although some records say it could have been in London.

Nicholas Hilliard’s first art work were on chicken skin, greeting cards, and the backs of playing cards.

Hilliard was, the sculptor and court painter to Queen Elizabeth I for whom he engraved the Great Seal of England in 1587. James I, in 1603 granted him, by letters patent, the exclusive privilege to “mint, make grave, and imprint any pictures of our image or our royal family.” Lawrence Hilliard, was his son and pupil and enjoyed this patent after the death of his father until it expired.

He visited France in 1578 in the service of the Duke of Alencon and some say this was when he learned his appreication of nature and elongation from the School of Fountainebleau. The minuteness of detail and even lighting he learned from the works of Holbein.

Some scholars claim that his portrayals of French personalities may be based on chalk portraits he had viewed in London, but others say his contact was more direct. He even wrote about hearing the poet Ronsard.

Hilliard’s “Treatise on the Art of Linning” (ca. 1600), is a work in which he discusses his technique of miniature painting and even describes his own engaging personality. In this work he recommends painting in the open air to avoid shadows, evidence of his desire for luminosity, transparency, and simplicity.

Isaac Oliver, was Hilliard’s most noted pupil though. After the turn of the century Hilliard’s position as the leading miniaturist in the country was challenged by his former pupil, Isaac Oliver. These two were head and shoulders above their contemporaries and dominated their era.

Some of the famous people from history that sat for Hilliard included; Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Sir Philip Sidney.

The finest collection of his miniatures is in the Albert and Victoria Museum. He is known also to have worked on a large scale and among the paintings attributed to him are portraits of Elizabeth I in the National Portrait Gallery, London, and in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.