Nicholas Hilliard, 1547-1619
Portrait of an Unknown Man Clasping a Hand from a Cloud
Dated 1588
Watercolour on vellum, stuck to a piece of later card
Inscribed either side of his head in Latin, 'Attici amoris ergo'(which has never been satisfactorily translated or explained) and 'Year of Our Lord 1588'
Museum no. P.21-1942
Passed with the collection of Sir Hans Sloane to the British Museum in 1754
Transferred to the V&A in 1939