Lot Essay
Bartholomew Fair was held in the grounds of St. Bartholomew's Hospital in Smithfield. The Hospital, the oldest in London, was founded in 1123 by Rahere, the court jester to King Henry I, after he had suffered an attack of fever, and had had a vision of the saint. He was granted land outside the City walls at Smithfield, and here built the Church, Priory and Hospital, all of which were run by the Augustinian Order. Rahere eventually became their first Prior, and in 1133 the King granted him by Royal Charter the right to hold a fair in the surrounding grounds. So began the richest cloth fair in the country, and from it the Priory and Hospital received a very large income from the tolls charged. The fair lasted for three days, begining on the eve of St. Bartholomew's Day, and during its first years, Rahere, even though the prior, was Lord of the Fair, and would often perform his old jester antics for the crowds. At the same time, however, the Corporation of London set up a rival fair for cattle nearby, and there was a constant dispute over the tolls, until an amalgamation of the two in 1445 resolved the situation, and the Corporation and the Priory became joint Lords of the Fair. After the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII, the Priory lost its share, and although Sir Richard Rich, who had been granted the rights from it, oversaw all the organisation, the quarreling still went on, until finally, after a shaky truce, the Corporation took complete control in 1604.
From this date the trading side of the Fair gradually diminished and the entertainments became of greater importance. Little booths were set up around the grounds for strolling players, jugglers, wrestlers and fighters, acrobats, actors, singers and puppet shows, and for the next century and a half the Fair became one of the most popular amusements in the country. There are numerous contemporary accounts of it, and Ben Jonson's play, named after it, published and performed at the begining of the 1660s, gives a graphic account of it. Towards the middle of the nineteenth century, however, the authorities considered that the Fair had got quite out of hand and too rowdy, and so the City authorities bought the rights from Lord Kensington and closed the Fair in 1855 for the last time. Smithfield market is now on the site.
Heemskerk and his father, also called Egbert, were both born in Haarlem and came to London, where they both died; they seem to have painted almost identical subjects (see E. Waterhouse, The Dictionary of 16th and 17th Century British Painters, 1988, pp. 118-9). Two other paintings similar in style and also attributed to Heemskerk the Younger are recorded in the Witt Library as being in the collection of Viscount Hampden at Glynde.
From this date the trading side of the Fair gradually diminished and the entertainments became of greater importance. Little booths were set up around the grounds for strolling players, jugglers, wrestlers and fighters, acrobats, actors, singers and puppet shows, and for the next century and a half the Fair became one of the most popular amusements in the country. There are numerous contemporary accounts of it, and Ben Jonson's play, named after it, published and performed at the begining of the 1660s, gives a graphic account of it. Towards the middle of the nineteenth century, however, the authorities considered that the Fair had got quite out of hand and too rowdy, and so the City authorities bought the rights from Lord Kensington and closed the Fair in 1855 for the last time. Smithfield market is now on the site.
Heemskerk and his father, also called Egbert, were both born in Haarlem and came to London, where they both died; they seem to have painted almost identical subjects (see E. Waterhouse, The Dictionary of 16th and 17th Century British Painters, 1988, pp. 118-9). Two other paintings similar in style and also attributed to Heemskerk the Younger are recorded in the Witt Library as being in the collection of Viscount Hampden at Glynde.