John Souch was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 portrait painter. He flourished in the early seventeenth century in the North West of England, and perhaps epitomises the role of art in English local life at that time.

Early life

John Souch was baptised on 3 February 1593/4 at Ormskirk

Ormskirk

Ormskirk is a market town in West Lancashire, England. It is situated north of Liverpool city centre, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston.-Geography and administration:...

, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

. In 1607, he was apprenticed (at the age of fourteen)for a term of ten years to Randle Holme

Randle Holme

Randle Holme was a name shared by members of four successive generations of a family who lived in Chester, Cheshire, England from the late years of the 16th century to the early years of the 18th century. They were all herald painters and genealogists and were members of the Stationers' Company of...

, the Chester

Chester

Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

 Herald Painter and antiquary. A Herald Painter usually had a workshop in which all manner of heraldic devices and coats of arms were created for status conscious local gentry

Gentry

Gentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....

 and nobility

Nobility

Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...

. These would be painted on boards for display on special occasions. A hatchment

Hatchment

A hatchment is a funeral demonstration of the lifetime "achievement" of the arms and any other honours displayed on a black lozenge-shaped frame which used to be suspended against the wall of a deceased person's house...

, a lozenge shaped board, would be carried at a funeral and then hung above the tomb.

However, the more talented herald painters sometimes branched out into portraiture, to satisfy a growing market for images to record betrothals, births, and (sometimes) deaths. Souch was clearly gifted in this direction, and consequently prospered under Holme's tutelage. He became a Freeman

Freedom of the City

Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...

 of the City of Chester

Chester

Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

 in 1616, when he was twenty three. Painters in Chester, as elsewhere in England at the time, were regarded as craftsmen. Consequently, he became a member of the Chester Painters and Stationers Company, a painters' Guild that met in the upper room of the Phoenix Tower

Phoenix Tower, Chester

Phoenix Tower stands at the northeast corner of the city walls in Chester, England. The tower has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building. It has also been known as Newton Tower and King Charles' Tower.-History:...

 on the city walls. (This is now known as King Charles's Tower, and can be visited.)

Although based in Chester, he became, after the manner of the time, a peripatetic painter, travelling to client's houses within an area bounded by Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

 to the South and Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

 to the North, and undertaking commissions, either heraldic or portraiture, on the spot. Thus he was paid 30 shillings in 1620 for a portrait of Francis Clifford, Fourth Earl of Cumberland (whereabouts unknown), executed at Skipton Castle

Skipton Castle

Skipton Castle is situated within the town of Skipton, North Yorkshire, England. The castle has been preserved for over 900 years, built in 1090 by Robert de Romille, a Norman baron.- History :...

. (This is the first record of him as an independent artist.)

Style of Painting

In common with many of his contemporaries, Souch adopted a two dimensional style, in which linear form and decoration were to the fore, rather than modelling, depth, or perspective. In fact the portraiture of the time can be said to be iconic rather than realistic. However, under the influence of Dutch and German painters active in London and elsewhere, this approach was starting to change. Souch himself may have undertaken artistic training in the Netherlands at some stage in his career, and some art historians claim to have detected the influence of Cornelis Jonson van Ceulen. In any case, his natural talent and sympathy for the subject seems to place him apart from other itinerant painters. Nevertheless, after the arrival of Anthony Van Dyck

Anthony van Dyck

Sir Anthony van Dyck was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next...

 in England, Souch clung to an older, Elizabethan, tradition of painting.

Paintings

Few authenticated works survive, though several are attributed to him.

A portrait of George Puleston of Emral Park, near Wrexham

Wrexham

Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...

, may be found in the Tate Gallery

Tate Gallery

The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...

, London.

There is a fine betrothal or wedding portrait, 'Unknown Lady and Gentleman', and signed 'J.S. Fec.1640' at the Grosvenor Museum

Grosvenor Museum

Grosvenor Museum is in Grosvenor Street, Chester, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building. Its full title is The Grosvenor Museum of Natural History and Archaeology, with Schools of Science and Art, for Chester, Cheshire and North Wales...

, Chester

Chester

Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

. (In this picture, the lady holds a tulip, a motif redolent of Dutch folk art, perhaps suggesting a visit to the Netherlands by the artist.)

Souch's masterpiece is undoubtedly 'Sir Thomas Aston at the Deathbed of his Wife', a painting of Sir Thomas Aston, 1st Baronet

Sir Thomas Aston, 1st Baronet

Sir Thomas Aston, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1640. He fought for the Royalist cause in the English Civil War.-Background:...

 and family attending his dying wife. It has pride of place in one of the galleries of Manchester City Art Gallery.

Later life

Souch continued his association with the Chester Guild, which records him as 'mort' (dead) in 1645. It is possible that Souch, like Randle Holme

Randle Holme

Randle Holme was a name shared by members of four successive generations of a family who lived in Chester, Cheshire, England from the late years of the 16th century to the early years of the 18th century. They were all herald painters and genealogists and were members of the Stationers' Company of...

, his master, was a royalist supporter, and had died in Chester as a consequence of the siege by the parliamentary army.

External links

• Image and overview of Souch's painting: Sir Thomas Aston at the Deathbed of his Wife.