Part of the sum he collected to take with him was doubtless used to
apprentice his son Philip, now sixteen, to the goldsmith's trade. And
that the father chose Paris for this purpose, where he left Philip on
his return journey, might well be due either to his own estimation
of Jerome David, to whom Philip was indentured, or to the fact that
Benvenuto Cellini's presence at Paris afforded some advantage; or that
his own promised return to Basel would make it preferable to have the
lad on the same side of the Channel as all his family. And that Holbein
fully intended to make the necessary and obvious sacrifice involved in
exchanging London for Basel is also proved by a contemporary account.
"His intention was," says his fellow-townsman, "had God lengthened his
life, to paint many of his pictures again at his own expense, as well as
the hall in the Rathaus. The paintings on the _Haus zum Tanz_ he
pronounced 'pretty good.'" But it was not to be.
His New Year's offering to the King on the opening of 1539 was a
portrait, probably the oil painting in the Hague Gallery, of the infant
Prince of Wales. It was a spirited picture of the royal baby with his
gold rattle in his chubby little fist, such as might have delighted a
father less doting than Henry VIII., whose return gift is recorded: "To
Hans Holbyne, paynter, a gilte cruse with a cover, weighing x oz. 1
quarter." The cruse was made by a friend of the painter; that Cornelius
Hayes, goldsmith, whom Bourbon's letter mentioned in connection with him
in 1536.
All these months the negotiations for the hand of the Duchess of Milan
had fluctuated with the varying fortunes of the King's relations with
her uncle, Charles V. But at last they had altogether collapsed with
what seemed to Henry VIII. the threatening attitude assumed by the
Emperor and the Pope. Hereupon followed that historical chapter, so full
of fatal consequences to Cromwell, and no less big with shame for the
King's own story: the pitiful chapter of Anne of Cleves.
Her brother, the Duke of Cleves, was at this time a troublesome foe to
the Emperor; while the fact that she was a Protestant was a "Roland"
for the Imperial and Papal "Oliver." So Holbein was again posted off to
bring back a counterfeit of Anne, and to carry to her a miniature of the
King. And by the 1st September he had acquitted himself of the new
mission.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account