Adrian Vanson

Who is Adrian Vanson?

Adrian Vanson was court portrait painter to James VI of Scotland.

Adrian's first works for James VI in Scotland were two pictures to be sent to Theodore Beza, for which he was paid £8-10s in June 1581. Portraits of John Knox and George Buchanan had been sent to Geneva in November 1579 for inclusion as woodcuts in Theodore Beza's Icones. Those portraits of the Scottish reformers arrived too late for the book, and the woodcuts of Knox and James VI published in Simon Goulart's 1581 edition of the Icones are thought to follow Vanson's pictures. Another woodcut image of George Buchanan, which was never used in the Icones, but appeared in other works, has been attributed to Arnold Bronckorst.

Adrian succeeded Arnold as "King's painter" in Scotland in May 1584, and his appointment and yearly fee of £100 was confirmed by privy seal letter on 20 August 1584.

Vanson also painted ceremonial spears and banners for the coronation of Anne of Denmark. When he was made a burgess of Edinburgh, it was hoped he would teach his craft to apprentices. He may have been 'Lord Seton's painter', who was recorded drawing portraits for coins at the mint in Edinburgh. Lord Seton had served as a diplomat and had various European contacts, and his third son John joined the household of the Earl of Leicester in England 1575.