Arnold Bronckorst

Arnold Bronckhorst, or Bronckorst or Van Bronckhorst (fl. 1565–1583) was a Dutch painter who was court painter to James VI of Scotland.

It is not known if Arnold Bronckhorst was a member of the Dutch noble family of Van Bronckhorst. According to a later account by Stephen Atkinson written in 1619, Bronckorst first appears in London, associated with English painter Nicholas Hilliard. With a third painter, Cornelius de Vos, they went to Scotland on business concerned with gold mining, meeting Regent Morton. According to Atkinson, the trio were arrested and unsuccessful in obtaining warrants for the export of gold, but Arnold was hired by Morton to paint portraits great and small of the young king (later James I of England.)

The involvement of Hilliard is doubted by his biographers. A Cornelius de Vos is recorded as a mineral prospector in Scotland in the period, not a painter. There is a record of a 'French painter' who made a portrait of the King in September 1573, during Morton's regency, for £10.

In Scotland, Arnold painted the King, Regent Morton, George Buchanan, and the Earl of Arran. According to the inventories of the Earl of Leicester, the earl had a portrait of the 'young king of Scots' in 1580, which may have been a copy of Arnold's picture. Leicester sent his own portrait to James VI, painted on canvas by Hubbard in 1583.

Arnold was paid £130 Scots for portraits of James VI in April 1580. Sittings for the King's picture by the "Flemish painter" at Stirling Castle during the difficult political circumstances in 1579 were mentioned in a letter sent to George Bowes in England, the brother of the diplomat Robert Bowes.

The Flemish painter is in Stirling, in working of the King's portraiture, but expelled forth of the place at the beginnings of thir (these) troubles. I am presently travelling (working) to obtain him license to see the King's presence thrice in the day, till the end of his work; quhilk (which) will be no sooner perfected nor nine days, after the obtaining of this license.

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