Isaac Oliver

Isaac Oliver (1560?–1617?), English painter of miniatures. A Huguenot refugee, he studied under Nicholas Hilliard. He became a court artist in the reign of James I (1603-1625). His sitters included the poet John Donne.

Born in Rouen, France, he went to England in 1568. Unlike Hilliard, he introduced light and shade into miniatures, his style closer to that of the baroque portraitists of continental Europe. Popular at the court of James I, he was Hilliard's main rival from about 1600. His son Peter Oliver was also limner (painter of miniatures) to the Stuart court, working in his father's style.