Thomas Howard earl of Arundel

Thomas Howard Arundel, earl of 1585-1646, first great English art collector and patron of arts. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he married a goddaughter of Queen Elizabeth and was always closely connected with the court. He held many high offices; in 1616 he was appointed privy councillor and later made earl marshal of England. Both Rubens and Van Dyck painted portraits for Arundel of himself and his wife in addition to other works. Inigo Jones, long in his service, accompanied him to Rome; there Arundel excavated some Roman statues, which with other ancient sculptures, including the Parian Chronicle, or Marmor Chronicon, were given to the Univ. of Oxford in 1667 and became known as the Arundel Marbles. Most of his sculpture collection is in Oxford's Ashmolean Museum. His collections also included Flemish, Dutch, German, and Italian paintings of the 16th cent.; Dürer and Holbein were particularly well represented. His library was given to the Royal Society; the manuscripts known as the Arundel Collection were later transferred (1831) to the British Museum. The Arundel Society (1848-97) reproduced works by famous artists in order to promote public interest in art. In 1904 the Arundel Club began to print reproductions of works in private collections.

Bibliography: See study by M. F. Hervey (1921, repr. 1969).

Arundel, Thomas Howard, 14th earl of (1585–1646). Howard's father spent the last eleven years of his life in the Tower. Howard was restored to the title by James I in 1604, received the Garter in 1611, and converted back to protestantism in 1615. In 1621 he was made earl marshal for life. In 1639 he was put in charge of the army to restore order among the Scots, but since the campaign ended without fighting, his military qualities were not tested. He was lord steward 1640–1 and presided over the trial of Strafford.

Arundel, Thomas Howard, 14th earl of (1585–1646). Howard's father was a catholic convert and spent the last eleven years of his life in the Tower, where he died in 1595. Howard was restored to the title by James I in 1604, received the Garter in 1611, and converted back to protestantism in 1615. In 1621 he was made earl marshal for life. In 1639 he was put in charge of the army to restore order among the Scots, but since the campaign ended without fighting, his military qualities were not tested. He was lord steward 1640–1 and presided over the trial of Strafford. He escorted Princess Mary to Holland in 1642, was created earl of Norfolk in 1644, and died at Padua in 1646. Clarendon disliked him, finding him pompous and self-interested. He was also disparaging about Howard's pretensions to learning—‘willing to be thought a scholar’—but Howard was an assiduous collector of works of art and a patron of men of scholarship.

J. A. Cannon