Gerlach Flicke (1495-1558)

• Latin name Gerbarus Fleccius, anglicised in the 16th century as "Garlicke".
• He was a German portrait painter.
• Flicke is known for his work in London as an artist of the Tudor court.
• Flicke was imprisoned in London and he made a portrait miniature whilst there.
• This painting is the earliest self-portrait in oils made in England.
• Flicke was born in the German town of Osnabrück.
• He arrived in London in about 1545 where he presented himself as an heir to Hans Holbein.
• Flicke was signing his works with a Latinised name and adding Germanus to emphasise his German training.
• Flicke limned portraits of Mary I.
• In 1554 he was imprisoned in London, where he became a friend of the privateer Henry Strangwish.
• Why Flicke was imprisoned is not known but Strangwish was there because of his piracy.
• Flicke may have been a victim of the persecution of Protestants by Mary I of England from 1553.
• Flicke's best-known painting is possibly that of Thomas Cranmer, dated 1545, which is now in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
• Flicke died in the London parish of St Giles-without-Cripplegate on 24 January 1558.
• He left his goods to a servant in Osnabrück, which suggests that was his home town.
• Next