Thomas Capp

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Thomas Capp''' or '''Cappe''' (died 1635) was a London-based painter and gilder.

==Background== Records of Capp's work indicate that he often worked painting and gilding furniture. He became a master of the Painter and Stainer's company in 1621. His father, also Thomas Capp, was a painter in London,<ref>Edward Town, 'A Biographical Dictionary of London Painters, 1547–1625', ''Walpole Society'', 76 (London, 2014), p. 50.</ref> and signed a petition of the Painter and Stainer's company in 1578.<ref>''Calendar State Papers Domestic'' (London, 1856), no. 28, TNA SP 12/125 f.59.</ref>

==Works== In January 1610 he was paid for painting chairs and stools for Anne of Denmark and working on some velvet curtains.<ref>Edward Town, 'A Biographical Dictionary of London Painters, 1547–1625', ''Walpole Society'', 76 (London, 2014), p. 51.</ref> After her death in 1619, Capp and seven associates petitioned King James for payment of £1600 for household work supplied to the queen. His co-petitioners were; William Thompson, joiner; Isobell Shawe and Christopher Shawe, embroiderers; Jasper Heely, silkman; John Salusbury, Thomas Edwards and Gilbert Hart upholsterers.<ref>Mary Anne Everett Green, ''Calendar State Papers Domestic, James I: 1619-1623'' (London, 1858), no. 73: TNA SP14/107 f.106r.</ref>

Among the petitioners, the embroiderers were a couple, Christopher Shawe and Isobel Buttes had married in 1589. Christopher Shawe was an embroiderer to Anne of Denmark and King James.<ref>Joseph Foster & Joseph Lemuel Chester, ''London Marriage Licences, 1521-1869'' (London, 1887), p. 1211: ''Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles I, 1640-1'' (London, 1882), no. 11.</ref> Shawe embroidered costume for the masque, ''Tethys' Festival'', work described as, "against the Prince his highness creation for a maske".<ref>''HMC Salisbury Hatfield'', vol. 21 (London, 1970), p. 287: ''CSP Domestic, James I: 1603-1610'' (London, 1857), p. 656 no. 12: TNA SP14/59 f.14.</ref> Thomas Edwards converted caparisons into wall hangings for Lady Anne Clifford and Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset for use in a long gallery.<ref>Jessica L. Malay, ''Anne Clifford's Autobiographical Writing, 1590-1676'' (Manchester, 2018), p. 91.</ref>

At this time furniture was decorated with decorated with painted and gilt arabesque patterns, such work was called "rebesking" in accounts.<ref>Howard Colvin, ''The History of the King's Works'', 4:2 (London: HMSO, 1982), p. 142.</ref> Capp painted furniture for Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex, some pieces "laid red and wrought with white", working with Oliver Browne and John Baker.<ref>Edward Town & Olivia Fryman, [https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/52160/page/35 'A rich inheritance: Lionel Cranfield's legacy at Knole', ''National Trust Historic Houses and Collections Annual'', Apollo (2016), pp. 35-7]</ref> He painted and gilded with gold and silver a bed provided by the draper Hugh Goddard for Robert Spencer, 1st Baron Spencer.<ref>Edward Town, 'A Biographical Dictionary of London Painters, 1547–1625', ''Walpole Society'', 76 (London, 2014), p. 51.</ref> Capp supplied four "tops" or finials to a bed at Belvoir Castle for Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland in March 1620.<ref>''HMC Rutland'', vol. 4 (London, 1904), p. 519.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Artists from London Category:17th-century English painters Category:1635 deaths Category:Household of Anne of Denmark