Explore: Robert Peake

(1551 - 1619)

Robert Peake came from a Lincolnshire family. He was apprenticed to a London goldsmith in 1565 and worked as a decorative painter at the court of Elizabeth I in 1576. Peake was appointed Serjeant Painter to James I after his accession in 1607, a post Peake shared with John de Critz (c.1552-1642). Peake was later official artist to Henry, Prince of Wales and may have been his official portraitist. Other examples of his portraits of the Prince are in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, London, and the Royal Collection, Windsor.