ABSTRACT
Carleton was a connoisseur of some distinction who, during his tour of duty as Ambassador in Venice, purchased pictures and sculpture for the Earls of Somerset and Arundel. Nicholas Lanier's apparently friendly relations with Sir Dudley Carleton may have had a stronger influence on his developing appreciation of painting. More importantly, there was a certain amount of artistic activity even within the Lanier family itself, Jerome Lanier was—as will be seen—an amateur artist and collector of considerable ability, which suggests a genetic predisposition shared by his nephew. The possibility that Norgate's locally-nurtured musical gifts first prompted John Lanier to find him patrons and employment in London cannot be discounted. It contradicts the more familiar account that he was originally sent to London to train as a painter and illuminator. The young George Villiers first came to court as King James's latest favourite at about the same time as Lanier finally obtained a place in the Mustek, 1615.
