THE ENGLISH TEMPER IN ART	373
portraiture for his generation. His best follower was Isaac
Oliver, a lively and delicate master. The two John Hoskmses,
father and son, covered the reign of Charles I and outkyed the
republic. They were in no respect the equals of Hilhard or
Oliver, in miniature technique or originality of vision, and
were far surpassed by Samuel Cooper, who is generally ac-
claimed as the greatest of all miniaturists. In technique and
characterization he did for his age what Billiard had done for
an earlier age. He was equally successful with Cromwell (whose
best likeness he made), with his supporters, and with Charles 11
and his courtiers, and has left behind some seventy signed and
dated portraits in miniature.	. .
From this brief description it may be clear that, miniatures
apart, the first half of the seventeenth century was not a great
period in the history of English art, for none of the native artists
produced work that approaches the masterpieces of continental
painters at this time.   Nevertheless English portrait painters
had already done sufficient to create a distinctive English tem-
per in art. That temper had an individuaUty and sensitiveness
of its own, so that the student who examines the work oi ±iil-
liard, Johnson, Dobson, or Cooper can be certain that he is
looking at the portrait of an Englishman painted by an English-
man. It is true that theworkof the Stuart painters was amateur-
ish compared with that of their great foreign rivals, and lacked
mechanical invention and sureness of touch. They were some-
what insular in technique, but might have profited from a study
of Italian and Flemish masterpieces if the civil war had not
dispersed or checked the rich collections of foreign art which
several nobles, and especially Charles I, were making.
Undoubtedly some of the credit for the high artistic standard
attained at this time should be given to the patrons who sup-
ported the artists and the collectors who bought then'canvases-
As a rule patronage and collecting went hand in handand^tins
is particularly true of two collectors who deserve specialmen-
tion, Thomas Howard, second Earl of Arundel and Chiles I
on the Continent himself but also employed agents there.   Ine
* Mary F. S. Hervey, 'A Lumley Inventory of 1609% WdfoU Sod*?, vi. 3<H>°-