Portrait of John Hunt (d.1625), bust-length, wearing armour Watercolour on vellum Inscribed, COGITA MORI / ANNO 1625 Inscribed on the reverse: Fui, non sum / es, quod non eris. / + dixit. Jn Hunt. + / [�] / pray for his soul / + [�] salvation ; translated roughly as �As you are, So once was I, As I am, So you will be�. Circular, 6cm diam. Framed: 11cmThis evocative image of the Hampshire gentleman John Hunt, dressed in chivalric armour, is attributed to the English miniaturist John Hoskins. Completed in around 1625, the text on the front and a seventeenth century inscription on the reverse suggests that it was completed on the death of the sitter in that very year. The presence of this date makes this a portrait miniature completed within the first decade of Hoskins� career.The golden background here, unlike the bright blue encountered often in sixteenth and seventeenth century miniature portraits, is incredibly rare for Hoskins. However, it is undeniable that particular example is highly characteristic of the artist, showing the influence of Hilliard and Oliver before the Van Dyckian leap forward encountered in Hoskins� miniatures of the next decade.A seventeenth-century inscription on the reverse of the portrait explains that it depicts a Jn Hunt. The motto on the front, ''Cogito Mori'' (�Think upon Death�), and the year 1625 points towards the portrait have been completed on the death of the sitter. Research has revealed that the portrait likely depicts John Hunt of Popham (d. 1625), a member of the gentry who is recorded to have purchased the ancient Hampshire manor of Clere Woodcott (formerly Clere) from Sir Humphrey Forster, 1st Bt. (c. 159...