Bourbon held Holbein’s art in the greatest admiration, and more than one reference to it, couched in terms of high praise, appears in his printed works. The original study for the portrait Holbein painted of him is among the Windsor drawings,[158] but the picture itself has disappeared. In the sketch he is represented turned to the left, with a pen in his hand, as though in the act of composing. He has a small beard, and wears a black cap over his long hair, and looks thoughtfully in front of him, the right arm and hand being only roughly indicated. It is inscribed “Nicholas Borbonius Poeta,” and is a fine drawing, in excellent condition, but some doubts have been expressed as to whether it really represents the poet. Bourbon was delighted with the portrait Holbein painted of him, and sings its praises in an epigram on the “incomparable painter” Hans Holbein, which he published in his _Nugae_. It runs: Footnote 158: Woltmann, 311; Wornum, i. 30; Holmes, i. 54. Reproduced by Knackfuss, fig. 123; _Drawings of Hans Holbein_, Pl. xxxv. “Dum divina meos vultus mens exprimit Hansi, Per tabulam docta præcipitante manu, Ipsum et ego interea sic uno carmine pinxi: Hansus me pingens major Apelle fuit.” (“While the divine genius of Hans immortalises my features, tracing them on the panel with skilful hand, I also have painted him thus in verse; Hans, thus painting me, was greater than Apelles.”) Holbein made a smaller drawing of the portrait, which was produced as a woodcut for the 1538 edition of Bourbon’s poems, the _Nugae_. In this also the poet is engaged in writing, but the position is reversed. It is inscribed “Nic. Borbonius Vandop. Anno Aetatis xxxii. 1535.” The portrait is circular, within a square, the corners being filled in with Renaissance ornament, and below two naked boys supporting a shield with Bourbon’s coat of arms, a swan surmounted by a cross. On the last page is printed the following: “IN IMAGINEM SVI. Corporis effigiem pictor saepe exprimit arte: Forma animi nulla pingier arte potest. Corpora corporeo mortalia lumine cernis, O homo: noto Deus pectora solus habet.” Both his friendship for Holbein and his admiration for his art find expression in a further poem or epigram printed in the _Nugae_, headed “In picturam Hansi regii apud Britannos pictoris et amici.” The verses describe a miniature painting by Holbein: “Sopitum in tabula puerum meus Hansus eburna Pinxerat, et specie qua requiescit Amor: Ut vidi, obstupui, Chaerintumque esse putavi, Quo mihi res non est pectore chara magis Accessi propius, mox saevis ignibus arsi; Osculaque ut coepi figere, nemo fuit.”