Hans Holbein the Younger, Volume 2 (of 2)Chamberlain, Arthur B. (Arthur Bensley)
History
Hans Holbein the Younger, Volume 2 (of 2)
Chamberlain, Arthur B. (Arthur Bensley)
Holbein, Hans, 1497-1543 -- Criticism and interpretation; Painters -- Germany -- Biography
There is, however, one other portrait in addition to the Louvre panel
which is a contemporary likeness of Anne of Cleves, though not by
Holbein. This is the small picture in St. John’s College, Oxford, a fine
work by some unknown painter of the Flemish School. It is a half-length,
standing three-quarters to the left, behind a parapet upon which lie an
orange and a pair of jewelled gloves. The head-dress is of cloth of gold
and white gauze, the latter worked with the motto, “A BON FINE,” as in
the Louvre picture. She is wearing a low-cut dress of striped gold and
black, filled in with white with embroidered bands, gold and jewelled
necklaces, and a pendant cross, and several rings on her fingers. Her
left hand is placed against her waistbelt, and in her right she holds
three carnations. The background is dark, with a small canopy or curtain
over her head. It is on panel with arched top, 19¾ in. by 14¼ in. The
costume is of the same style and period as the Louvre portrait, though
it differs in numerous small details, more particularly in the colours
of the materials, the shape of the sleeves, and the jewelled bands of
the head-dress. The general tone of colour is golden, and there is
excellent painting in all the details of the elaborate costume. It was
included in the Oxford Exhibition of Historical Portraits in 1904 (No.
30), and was one of the most interesting pictures in the
collection.[395] As a likeness it bears a strong resemblance to
Holbein’s portrait, and if not of Anne may well be of her sister. The
suggestion may be hazarded that it is one of the two portraits, painted
six months before Holbein and Beard were in Düren, which Olisleger had
promised to procure for Henry VIII’s ambassadors, portraits which Beard,
apparently, took with him to London early in July 1539.
Footnote 395:
Reproduced in the Oxford Catalogue, p. 24; _Burlington Magazine_, vol.
v., May 1904, p. 214. A very similar picture was lent by Dr. Wickham
Flower to the New Gallery Winter Exhibition, 1899-1900, No. 44, as a
work of the Early Flemish School. It was described in the catalogue
as: “Half-length, turned towards left, habited in a rich Flemish
costume of gold tissue covered with jewellery; head-dress ornamented
with pearls, and inscribed with the motto ‘A bon fine’; in her right
hand she holds a red carnation; flat green background. Painted on
vellum and strained on fine canvas, 15 in. × 14 in. This portrait is
supposed to have been executed by a Flemish painter a year or two
previous to Anne’s marriage in 1540.”
There is no need even to touch upon the concluding stages of this
miserable story, with which Holbein had nothing to do. Henry married
Anne at Greenwich on January 6, 1540, and finally divorced her on July
12 in the same year. She settled at Richmond in the enjoyment of the
rank of a princess and a pension of £3000 a year, and survived the King
by ten years, dying in 1557.
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