Holbein painted a prelate of a very different sort in the oil portrait
of John Stokesley, Bishop of London, which is preserved at Windsor
Castle. And yet he dared to paint the Truth--now as always. The painting
is a masterpiece of modelling and soft transparency of light and shade.
But the truculent, lowering countenance leaves small doubt that the
sitter was a gentleman pre-eminently "gey ill to live wi'."
There is another oil painting at Windsor which has not escaped the
injuries of time, but is none the less a splendid survival of 1527. This
is the portrait of Sir Henry Guildford, Master of the Horse to Henry
VIII., and holder of many another office of trust (Plate 22). It has
sometimes been thought that the yellow tone of the complexion was due to
over-painting, but the chalk drawing shows that it was a personal
peculiarity.
Sir Henry, a warm friend to both More and Erasmus, was forty-nine when
he sat for this portrait. Under his black fur-trimmed surcoat he wears
a doublet of gold brocade. In his hand is the wand of office as
Chamberlain, and he is decorated with the collar and badge of the
Garter.
He was always a great favourite with the King from the time when the
latter came to the throne and young Guildford, then twenty, was one of
the gayest, bravest, most loyal spirits about it. Always as ready for a
real battle as a mimic one; as clever at writing plays for the King's
amusement as at acting in them; as good in a revel as at a piece of
diplomacy; it is not much wonder that his knighthood in 1512 should but
have been the prelude to a long series of promotions.
Illustration: PLATE 22
SIR HENRY GUILDFORD
_Oils. Windsor Castle_
The affection of master and man, too, was singularly sincere for a
court. Sir Henry loyally supported the King's demand for a divorce, but
he was by no means ready to support a second marriage without the papal
preliminary. Hence he was not a persona grata to Anne Boleyn. Nor
would he stoop to curry favour at the expense of an honest conviction.
When Anne warned him that he was likely to lose his office as soon as
she became Queen, he promptly replied that he would spare her all
concern about that, and went straight to the King to resign the office
of Controller. The latter showed the depth of his affection by urging
Sir Henry, twice, to reconsider his determination. But he wisely
preferred to quit his apartments under the King's roof,--without,
however, breaking the bond of mutual attachment. Five years after this
picture was painted he died; in May, 1532. Holbein also painted Lady
Guildford's portrait; an oil painting in Mr. Frewer's collection. And
Sir Henry selected him as one of the chief artists commissioned to
decorate the interior of the Banqueting Hall specially erected for the
celebration of the French Alliance in 1527. By all of which it would
seem that in securing a new patron the painter had once more made a
friend.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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