(Isaac), an excellent English painter, born in 1556; eminent both for history and portraits. Several fine miniatures of this master are to be seen in the collections of our nobility and gentry; some of them portraits of himself. As he was a very good designer, his drawings are finished to an extraordinary degree of perfection; many being copies after Parmigiano. Rubens and Vandyck painted James I. after a miniature of Oliver's, which is a sufficient testimony of his merit. He died in 1617.

(Peter), the son and disciple of Isaac Oliver, was born in 1601. He arrived at a degree of perfection in miniature portraits confessedly superior to his father, or any of his contemporaries; as he did not confine his subjects to a head only. In the collections of Charles I. and James II. there were 13 historical subjects painted by this Oliver; of which seven are still preserved in the closet of queen Caroline at Kensington; and a capital painting of his wife is in the possession of the duchess of Portland. He died in 1660.