Williamson in his _History of Portrait Miniatures_ as very probably the work of Holbein; and since its exhibition at Brussels in 1912 the attribution has been accepted by some of the leading Dutch critics.[510] Footnote 508: _Burlington Magazine_, vol. i., April 1903, p. 218, and frontispiece; Ganz, _Holbein_, p. 147 (2). Footnote 509: _Burlington Magazine_, vol. i., April 1903, p. 218. Footnote 510: See _Hist. Portrait Miniatures_, vol. i. p. 11, and Pl. iii. 1. [Sidenote: HOLBEIN’S MINIATURES OF HIMSELF] A fine miniature portrait of the artist himself, painted in the last year of his life, is in the possession of the Duke of Buccleuch,[511] and was exhibited at the Royal Academy Winter Exhibition, 1879 (Case F, 25), and at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1909 (Case C, 23). It is a bust portrait, turned three-quarters to the left, the head facing the spectator. He is represented in the act of painting, the left hand supporting the right, and is dressed in a plain black costume with white pleated collar and cuffs, and a round black skull-cap. He has dark hair and a closely-cut beard. Across the blue background is inscribed, “H.H. AN. 1543. ÆTATIS SVÆ 45.” It was formerly in the collection of Horace Walpole, and at the Strawberry Hill sale in 1842 was purchased by Mr. W. Blamire, and when the latter’s collection was disposed of in 1863 it passed into the possession of the Duke of Buccleuch. It is one of the best of several similar miniatures, and is very fine in execution, and has been usually ascribed to Holbein himself. The best of all is in the Wallace Collection (Case B, 93) (Pl. 33 (2)),[512] and appears to be from the painter’s own hand. A number of copies are to be found in various collections; one of them, in the Mayer van den Bergh Collection, Antwerp, is reproduced by Dr. Ganz.[513] Woltmann considered that the Montagu House portrait was “scarcely the original, but an old and contemporaneous copy,”[514] but it is too excellent in execution to be the work of a mere copyist. There is a second and larger version in the Buccleuch Collection, with the same date, 1543, also attributed to Holbein. The first-named example may possibly be the small round mentioned by Van Mander as being in Amsterdam in his day. Lucas Vorsterman’s circular engraving was evidently based on this miniature or the somewhat larger portrait now lost,[515] of which the exceedingly poor likeness of the painter in the Uffizi Gallery gives but a feeble echo. The print follows the miniature closely, but is reversed, so that Holbein is represented as painting with his left hand. Hollar’s engraving, dated 1647, in which the painter’s left hand is omitted, was taken, according to the inscription, from an original in the collection of the Earl of Arundel, though Wornum was of opinion that it was based upon Vorsterman’s version. Both are described in an earlier chapter.[516] The inscription across the background in Hollar’s print—“HH. Æ 45.