This is one of the series of forty-nine portrait miniatures (RCIN 420431-420679) of German and other forebears of the Hanoverian dynasty which were first recorded in Queen Caroline's Closet at Kensington Palace by George Vertue in 1743.

The series can be dated fairly narrowly by internal evidence to the years between 1593-7 and appears to be the work of a single as yet unidentified miniature painter who worked mainly at the Brunswick-Lüneburg court but also visited Brandenburg and other centres. The artist was a naïve successor to the tradition of German court portraiture established by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) at the court of the Elector of Saxony at Wittenberg.

Ernest I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Celle, was the son of Henry, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, whom he succeeded in 1521. In 1528 Ernest married Sophia, daughter of Henry III, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Ernest I’s support for the Reformation and introduction of the Protestant religion into his territories ultimately secured the Britishthrone for his Protestant descendant George I.

This image is derived from the standard representation of the Duke; a drawing at Reims of this type is attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger and a full-length copy by D. Frumerie of c. 1667 is at Gripsholm Castle.

Inscribed at the top in white: ERNESTUS: HERZOG: BRANS.UND LUNEBURG.

Text adapted from The First Georgians: Art and Monarchy 1714-1760, London, 2014.