Oil paint on oak
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/george-gower-220" aria-label="More by George Gower" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">George Gower</a>
Sir Thomas Kytson
Purchased 1952
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<p>Sir Thomas (1540–1603) and Lady Elizabeth Kytson (1546/7–1628) of Hengrave, Suffolk, married in 1560. Sir Thomas was the son of a rich cloth trader, who amassed a fortune trading in the Low Countries (now the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg). This meant Thomas could live in considerable style. The Kytsons remained Roman Catholics throughout the Protestant reign of Elizabeth I. Elizabeth Kytson was even briefly imprisoned for her faith. Nonetheless, the Queen honoured Thomas by visiting Hengrave in 1578, where she knighted him.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2024</em></p>
painting oil paint oak
22 October 2001 – 13 April 2003
2003-04-13
22 October 2001 – 13 April 2003
2003-04-13
2001-10-22
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-10-22
The English Renaissance
Collection based display
23 April 2003 – 31 October 2010
2010-10-31
23 April 2003 – 31 October 2010
2010-10-31
2003-04-23
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2003-04-23
Tudor and Stuart Portraiture
Collection based display
14 December 2012 – 24 July 2022
2022-07-24
14 December 2012
2012-12-14
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-12-14
Gallery 91
Collection based display
26 September 2022
9 December 2019
2019-12-09
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2022-09-26
Gallery 91
Collection based display
Sir Thomas Kytson
support: 527 × 400 mm
frame: 660 × 537 × 63 mm
Purchased 1952
<div class="text">
<p>Sir Thomas Kytson (1541–1603) was the son of a rich London merchant who <br/>had amassed a fortune through trading in cloth with the Low Countries.  This wealth had raised the family up the social scale, so that when Thomas inherited Hengrave Hall in Suffolk and other estates, he was able to live in considerable style. Music was an important part of life at Hengrave, where the Kytsons employed a permanent band of celebrated musicians, including the composer John Wilbye (?1573–1638).</p>
<p>In 1560 Kytson married, as his second wife, Elizabeth Cornwallis and the couple remained Catholics throughout the Protestant reign of Elizabeth I (between 1558 and 1603) even briefly suffering imprisonment for their faith. Nevertheless, the Queen was to honour the Kytsons by visiting Hengrave in 1578, when she knighted Sir Thomas.</p>
<p>A payment in Kytson’s surviving accounts for 1573 indicates that this portrait, and its companion image of <i>Lady Kytson</i> (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gower-lady-kytson-n06091" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N06091</span></a>) were painted in London by George Gower (Cambridge University Library, Hengrave Papers 82 (3); cited in John Gage, <i>The History and Antiquities of Hengrave</i>, London 1822, p.40). The Kytsons had a town house in Coleman Street, in the City of London.</p>
<p>These are the earliest extant works by Gower and, together with his <i>Self-portrait</i> of 1579 (private collection; see <i>Dynasties</i>, cat. no. 57), form a nucleus upon which further attributions to him have been based.</p>
<p>Nothing is known of Gower’s training but he was descended from a Yorkshire gentry family. In 1581 he was appointed Serjeant Painter to Queen Elizabeth, the premier royal post for an artist, but one whose duties generally involved the control of applied and decorative painting for the monarch. In 1584 a patent was drafted that would have granted Gower the monopoly of all painted and engraved portraits of the Queen (while allowing another painter, Nicholas Hilliard (c.1547–1619) the monopoly of her portraits in miniature) but it is not clear whether this was ever enacted. Nevertheless, Gower seems to have been one of the most fashionable portraitists of the 1570s and 1580s.</p>
<p>Sir Thomas’s portrait has been cut down at the sides but may originally have been the same size as that of his wife.</p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>E.K. Waterhouse, <i>Painting in Britain 1530-1790</i>, revised edition, London and New Haven 1994, pp.34–5<br/>Karen Hearn (ed.), <i>Dynasties: Painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530–1630</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1995 pp.102–3,107–8, cat. nos. 53, 54, 57, reproduced p.102 in colour</p>
<p>Karen Hearn<br/>February 2001</p>
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Summary
2019-08-06T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div class="text">
<p>Sir Thomas (1540–1603) and Lady Elizabeth Kytson (1546/7–1628) (whose portrait hangs nearby) of Hengrave, Suffolk, married in 1650. Their paintings remained at Hengrave Hall until 1952. Sir Thomas was the son of a rich cloth trader, who amassed a fortune trading in the Low Countries. This mean Thomas could live in considerable style. The Kytsons remained Roman Catholics throughout the Protestant reign of Elizabeth I. Elizabeth was even briefly suffering imprisonment for her faith. Nonetheless, the Queen honoured Kytson by visiting Hengrave in 1578, where she knighted him.</p>
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Online caption
2023-11-29T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
adults body clothing and personal items collar head / face individuals: male Kytson, Thomas, Sir man named individuals objects people portraits