Balthazar Gerbier. Sir Balthazar Gerbier, was an Anglo-Dutch courtier, diplomat, art advisor, miniaturist and architectural designer, in his own words fluent in several languages with a good hand in writing, skill in sciences as mathematics, architecture, drawing, painting, contriving of scenes, masques, shows and entertainments for great Princes.
as likewise for making of engines useful in war. Gerbier, the son of Anthony Gerbier, was born in Middelburg, Zeeland, of a Huguenot family that had settled there.
Dutch sources show that his family were cloth merchants although he claimed that his grandfather had been a 'baron Douvilly and so signed himself on occasion. As a designer of siege machinery he was recommended by Maurice of Nassau, later Prince of Orange, through whose efforts Gerbier arrived in London in 1616, in the train of the Dutch ambassador.
In London he soon found a patron in George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham for whom he found paintings and negotiated their purchase, acting in a sense as keeper of the Duke's collection, and for whom he painted miniatures and oversaw remodelling about 1625, at York House in the Strand and at New Hall, Essex. At York House and at New Hall, Gerbier was busy with architectural alterations for Buckingham, 1624-25.
At York House, a visit from Inigo Jones while the paving was being laid in the grande chambre reveals Gerbier's intense competitiveness w
as likewise for making of engines useful in war. Gerbier, the son of Anthony Gerbier, was born in Middelburg, Zeeland, of a Huguenot family that had settled there.
Dutch sources show that his family were cloth merchants although he claimed that his grandfather had been a 'baron Douvilly and so signed himself on occasion. As a designer of siege machinery he was recommended by Maurice of Nassau, later Prince of Orange, through whose efforts Gerbier arrived in London in 1616, in the train of the Dutch ambassador.
In London he soon found a patron in George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham for whom he found paintings and negotiated their purchase, acting in a sense as keeper of the Duke's collection, and for whom he painted miniatures and oversaw remodelling about 1625, at York House in the Strand and at New Hall, Essex. At York House and at New Hall, Gerbier was busy with architectural alterations for Buckingham, 1624-25.
At York House, a visit from Inigo Jones while the paving was being laid in the grande chambre reveals Gerbier's intense competitiveness w
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