Hans HolbeinChamberlain, Arthur B. (Arthur Bensley)
History
Hans Holbein
Chamberlain, Arthur B. (Arthur Bensley)
Holbein, Hans, 1497-1543
In 1537 Holbein painted a great picture on the wall of the Privy Chamber
at Whitehall, representing the two Kings, Henry VII. and Henry VIII.,
and their Queens, Elizabeth of York and Jane Seymour. When the art
historian, Van Mander, saw it in 1604, it was still in perfect
preservation, and he speaks with the utmost enthusiasm about it. It was
destroyed in the fire which burned down that palace in 1698. Happily,
there still exists a small copy of it (Hampton Court), which was made in
1667 by Remigius van Leemput by order of Charles II., and Mr. Ernest Law
has recently discovered a replica by the same painter; while a still
better judgment can be formed of its size, composition, and general
effect from Holbein’s cartoon for the left half, showing the King and
his father, which belongs to the Duke of Devonshire. It is a black chalk
drawing, heightened with Indian ink, and was used for tracing the design
upon the wall.
Almost every other portrait of Henry painted after 1537--and there are
many of them scattered about England and on the Continent--was based
upon the Whitehall likeness. It is very doubtful if even one of them is
the genuine work of Holbein’s brush. Such portraits were multiplied to
give away to foreign Princes and faithful subjects. The best of them is
the well-known full-face representation of the King in Warwick Castle--a
life-size work, very admirably painted, most probably by Hornebolt.
There is really no authentic portrait of him by Holbein in existence,
with the exception of the rough chalk drawing at Munich and the
exquisite square portrait at Althorp, which, in the opinion of Mr.
Lionel Cust, F.S.A., is a genuine example.
After the death of Jane Seymour, the Privy Council lost no moment in
urging the King to marry again. The choice fell upon Christina, daughter
of the King of Denmark, and niece of the Emperor Charles V. She was
Duchess of Milan, and the young widow of Francesco Sforza, the last Duke
of his race. Holbein went over to Brussels in March, 1538, to paint the
lady’s portrait, and an account of this expedition will be found on p.
54. The very lovely full-length portrait of this Princess belongs to the
Duke of Norfolk, who has generously lent it to the National Gallery for
a number of years (_see illustration, and p. 55_). This is, perhaps, the
most perfect piece of portraiture Holbein ever accomplished, and one of
the great pictures of the world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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