Chapter XVIII: Portraits of 1533-1536 (2)

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.”

(My Hans has painted on an ivory panel a slumbering boy, looking
like a reposing Cupid; I see him, I am astonished, I regard him
as Charintus, whom my heart loves most warmly; I approach
burning with passion, yet as I kiss him, it is only a
semblance.)

All traces of this miniature, which Bourbon extols so highly, have disappeared. Two other laudatory references to Holbein occur in the _Nugae_. In the 1538 edition, which was published in Lyon in the same year as the “Dance of Death” cuts and the Old Testament illustrations, the following lines have reference to the former designs:

“_De morte picta a Hanso pictore nobili._
Dum mortis Hansus pictor imaginem exprimit,
Tanta arte mortem retulit, ut mors vivere
Videatur ipsa: et ipse se immortalibus
Parem Diis fecerit operis huius gloria.”

(On the picture of Death by the noble painter Hans.

Painter Hans has expressed the image of Death with so much art,
that Death himself now seems a living being, and he by the glory
of his work has made himself the compeer of the immortal gods.)

[Sidenote: NICOLAS BOURBON AND HOLBEIN]

These verses read as though they were written to accompany the first edition of the “Dance of Death” woodcuts, but for some reason were never used. They are interesting, too, as containing the only contemporary reference to Holbein as the actual designer of the series. In the same edition occur the following lines:

“Videre qui vult Parrhasium cum Zeuxide,
Accersat a Britannia
Hansum Ulbium et Georgium Reperdium
Lugduno ab urbe Galliae.”

which may be paraphrased as—“Whoever wishes to see the painter equal to Parrhasius or Zeuxis must call Hans Holbein from England and Georgius Reperdius from the French town of Lyon.” Reperdius was the Italian engraver Reverdino, about whom little is known, except that much of his engraved work was after Primaticcio. The latter was working at Fontainebleau at this period, and, if Bourbon is to be believed, Reperdius was settled in Lyon, where the poet probably met him when visiting that town for the purpose of making arrangements for the republishing of his _Nugae_.

For the second edition of the “Old Testament” illustrations, published in 1539, Bourbon furnished, as already noted,[159] a Latin poem in which Holbein, as the designer of the woodcuts, is compared with and placed above the greatest painters of antiquity. It describes a scene in Elysium, in which the three great Greek painters, Apelles, Zeuxis and Parrhasius appear:

Footnote 159:

See Vol. i. p. 227.

“Nuper in Elysio cum forte erraret Apelles
Una aderat Zeuxis, Parrhasiusque comes.”

Apelles breaks forth into a lament over the eclipse of their fame brought about by Holbein, and exclaims:

“Holbius est homini nomen, qui nomina nostra
Obscura ex claris ac prope nulla facit.”

The verses are too long for quotation. Bourbon has added to them a Greek distich, with its translation into Latin:

“Cernere vis, hospes, simulacra simillima vivis?
Hoc opus Holbinae nobile cerne manus.”

VOL. II., PLATE 13
TITLE-PAGE OF COVERDALE’S BIBLE
1535
_From a copy in the British Museum_
]

No other portrait by Holbein can be definitely attributed to the year 1535. It was in this year that he lost two of his first English patrons, and both on the scaffold—Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher, and his distress must have been keen, more particularly over the death of the former, who had done so much for him when he first arrived in London, a practically unknown foreign painter, with no knowledge of the English language. One other work of his, however, the design for the title-page of Coverdale’s Bible, in the publication of which Thomas Cromwell was greatly interested, was issued in this year, and possibly it was he who placed the commission in Holbein’s hands. It is interesting to note that Holbein, who illustrated the first translations of the Bible into German in Switzerland, also supplied a design for its first complete rendering into English, which was published under the title of “Biblia. The Bible, that is, the holy Scripture of the Olde and New Testament, faithfully and truly translated out of Douche and Latyn in to Englishe, M.D.XXV.” This fine folio was printed in Zürich by Froschover, and no doubt Holbein’s title-page[160] (Pl. 13) was also cut abroad, for there was no one in England at that time capable of producing so excellent an engraving. The design is divided into six little pictures which surround the title. The one across the top contains the Fall and the Redemption; on the left Adam and Eve stand under the Tree, and on the right Christ rises from the tomb, triumphant over Death and Hell. On the left-hand side of the page Moses is shown on Mount Sinai receiving the Tables of the Law, and beneath him is a representation of Ezra reading the Old Law to the Jews on their return from the Captivity. On the opposite side, in the upper picture, Christ is sending forth His disciples into the world to preach the gospel, and in the lower Paul is seen preaching. In the panel across the bottom of the page Henry VIII is seated on his throne under a canopy, with a sword of state in one hand and a Bible in the other, which he presents to the high dignitaries of the Church and the nobles of his Court, who kneel below him. On either side within arched niches are the figures of King David playing the harp, and the Apostle Paul. The King is represented with a beard, which became the fashion in the year Coverdale’s Bible was published, but in facial likeness there is little resemblance to Henry, due, possibly, to the fact that the block was cut in Switzerland. The design, as a whole, is a particularly fine and effective one, and has not suffered to any great extent from the cutting, which is good, though not the handiwork of a Lützelburger. Certain of the figures are of great beauty, in particular those of the risen Christ, the Adam and Eve, and the Paul. The resemblance, in facial type and movements, between the figure of the Saviour sending forth His disciples to preach and the Christ in the “Noli me Tangere” picture at Hampton Court, has been already noted.[161]

Footnote 160:

Woltmann, 237. Reproduced by Woltmann, i. dedication; Davies, p. 192.

Footnote 161:

See Vol. i. p. 97.

The few designs which Holbein made for woodcuts while in England appear to have been all done at about this time, when the abuses of the Church were being attacked most severely and the monasteries were being swept away; though some of them were not actually published until some years later. In them Holbein, just as he had done in his woodcuts produced in Basel, in no way attempts to disguise his adherence to the reformed religion. This feeling was shown very strongly in a series of twenty-two small satirical drawings of the Passion which appear to have been preserved in a little book, now unfortunately lost. At one time it was in the possession of the Earl of Arundel, and was shown by him to Sandrart as a work of Holbein’s. The latter mentions it in his _Teutsche Akademie_, stating that each sheet was full of little figures of every kind, that of the Redeemer always appearing under the form of a monk attired in black. Sixteen of these designs were engraved in the seventeenth century, no doubt while in the Arundel collection, and most probably by Hollar, though they are unsigned and have not the customary “Ex Collec. Arundell:” beneath them. In them “the enemies of Christ are represented in the dress of monks and friars, and instead of weapons they bear croziers, large candlesticks, and other church ornaments; Judas appears as a capucin, Annas as a cardinal, and Caiaphas as a bishop. In the subject of Christ’s Descent to Hades the gates are hung with papal bulls and dispensations; above them are the Pope’s arms, and the devil as keeper of the gate wears a triple crown.”[162]

Footnote 162:

Chatto, _Treatise on Wood Engraving_, p. 378, note. Described more
fully by Woltmann, i. 395-7. See also Walpole, _Anecdotes_, ed.
Wornum, i. p. 98.

Woltmann describes a second title-page, very finely cut, which he considers to have been produced during Holbein’s sojourn in England. So far it has not been discovered in any published book, but there is a fine proof of it in the Munich Print Room. On either side stand St. Peter and St. Paul, the latter pointing upwards, two tall slender figures. They appear as pillars of the church, and are represented as supporting the blank title itself, which is in the form of a paper scroll. In an arch above is Christ risen from the Tomb, trampling upon Death and Satan, and below are the arms of Henry VIII supported by two heraldic beasts.[163]

Footnote 163:

Woltmann, 238.

Something of the same satirical feeling shown in the lost drawings of the Passion is to be seen in two or three small woodcuts of this period, which, from the inferiority of the cutting, were very probably produced in England. Two of them appeared among the twenty-six little cuts in _Cranmer’s Catechism_, a small octavo volume published in 1548, the full title being, “Catechismus, that is to say, a shorte instruction into Christian religion for the singular commoditie and profyte of childrē and yong people. Set forth by the mooste reverende father in God, Thomas Archbyshop of Canterbury, primate of all Englande and Metropolitane.—Gualterus Lynne excudebat, 1548.” The first of Holbein’s two small pictures (folio CL) represents the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican,[164] the scene taking place in a church, with the Pharisee as a monk, kneeling at an altar, whom Christ points out to His disciples, while the Publican stands with head bent in front of them. On the edge of a book on the altar steps are the initials “H. H.” The subject of the second cut (folio CCI) is Christ casting out the Devil from the possessed man,[165] which, in spite of the unsatisfactory cutting, is very dramatic and retains much of the beauty and individuality of Holbein’s design. The Pharisees and others who stand behind are represented as bishops, monks and priests. It is signed in full “HANS HOLBEN.” A third woodcut, very similar to these, but still more feeble in execution, represents Christ as the Good Shepherd,[166] surrounded by His disciples, and pointing to the “hired servant,” here again dressed as a monk, who is flying before the wolf which scatters his frightened flock. This also is signed in full “HANS HOLBEIN.” It appears in a small English pamphlet, “A lytle treatise after the manner of an Epystle, wryten by the famous clerk Doctor Vrbanus Regius,” which was also published by Walter Lynne, in the same year, 1548, as the Catechism.

Footnote 164:

Woltmann, 198. Reproduced by Chatto, p. 380; and in _Hans Holbein_
(Great Engravers Series), ed. A. M. Hind.

Footnote 165:

Woltmann, 199. Reproduced by Woltmann, i. p. 391; Chatto, p. 381;
Wornum, p. 191; and in _Hans Holbein_ (Great Engravers Series), ed. A.
M. Hind.

Footnote 166:

Woltmann, 200. Reproduced by Woltmann, i. p. 399.

A third, and more important, publication of 1548, _Hall’s Chronicle_, contains a large folio woodcut representing King Henry VIII in Council,[167] which Woltmann regarded as undoubtedly of Holbein’s design. The scene takes place in a magnificent chamber hung with tapestries, with the King, his legs apart in his characteristic attitude, seated on a throne beneath a baldachin bearing his arms. He is surrounded by his councillors, twenty-seven in number, some listening, others lost in thought, and others again whispering among themselves. The cutting is excellent, and was probably done in Switzerland. The socle with the framework enclosing the inscription “King Henry the eyght,” and the two supporting sirens, are almost identical with the socle and supports in the beautiful woodcut of Erasmus with the figure of Terminus already described. These, with the small portraits of Wyat and Bourbon, and the “Charitas” device for Reinhold Wolfe, constitute almost the whole of Holbein’s work as a book-illustrator while in England.

Footnote 167:

Woltmann, 210. Reproduced by Dibdin, _Typographical Antiquities_, vol.
iii. It bears the engraver’s initials, “I. F.,” possibly Faber.

[Sidenote: PORTRAIT OF SIR THOMAS WYAT]

There are several undated portraits and studies for portraits which must have been produced between the years 1535 and 1537, among them the likeness of Sir Thomas Wyat, the famous poet and courtier, whose father, Sir Henry Wyat, had been painted by Holbein during his first English visit. Wyat was about the Court during the period under discussion; a few years later he was often absent from England on foreign embassies. There is a study for his portrait among the Windsor drawings (Pl. 14)[168] which is one of the finest in the collection, though considerably rubbed and stained, and also a good, possibly contemporary, copy.[169] He is represented nearly full-face, wearing a cap, and with a long flowing beard, both hair and beard being modelled with the brush. The portrait which must have been painted from this singularly attractive study is not now known to exist; a small painting in oils corresponding to the drawing, but not by Holbein, was exhibited by Mr. Bruce at the National Portrait Exhibition in 1866. A second portrait of Sir Thomas was drawn by Holbein at a somewhat later date, which was reproduced as a woodcut, shortly after the poet’s death, in the little book entitled _Næniæ in Mortem Thomæ Viati Equitis Incomparabilis_, written by John Leland, the antiquary, in honour of his memory, and published in 1542. The portrait,[170] which is a small roundel in the style of the circular portraits in wax or boxwood which were at that time much in vogue, may have been drawn by Holbein himself on the block. The engraving itself is somewhat crudely done, but was, no doubt, the best that could be procured at that time in London; yet in spite of its roughness the little portrait is a true likeness, full of character, such as no one in England but Holbein could have produced. Wyat is represented almost in profile to the right, with a long beard and a high bare forehead, bearing out Leland’s description in his panegyric that “nature had given the youth dark auburn hair, but this gradually disappeared and left him bald, but the thick forest of his flowing beard increased more and more.” The neck is bare, and bounded by a slight drapery in the classical manner, giving it the appearance of a medallion. Underneath the woodcut, which is printed on the reverse of the title, are the following lines in praise of both painter and poet:

Footnote 168:

Woltmann, 289; Wornum, i. 18; Holmes, i. 32. Reproduced by Knackfuss
fig. 139, and elsewhere.

Footnote 169:

Woltmann, 290; Wornum, i. 40; Holmes, not numbered.

Footnote 170:

Woltmann, 209; reproduced by him, i. 364.

“_In Effigiem Thomæ Viati._
“Holbenus nitida pingendi Maximus arte
Effigiem expressit graphice; sed nullus Apelles
Exprimet ingenium felix animumque Viati.”

(Holbein, the greatest in the magnificent art of painting, has
sketched this portrait, yet no Apelles can express in painting
Wyat’s mind and happy genius.)

VOL. II., PLATE 14
SIR THOMAS WYAT
_Drawing in black and coloured chalks_
WINDSOR CASTLE
]

[Sidenote: PORTRAIT OF SIR THOMAS WYAT]

The drawing, no doubt, was made by Holbein on purpose for the book, but whether it was an original study from memory, or was based on a portrait of Wyat he had painted some little time previously, is uncertain. Several circular oil paintings exist which are either founded upon the _Næniæ_ woodcut, or are contemporary copies of a portrait by Holbein which cannot now be traced. The latter is the more probable supposition, as in all the paintings the head is turned to the left, whereas in the woodcut it faces to the right, not having been reversed when drawn on the block. One of these versions, formerly in the collection of the Marquis of Hastings, who lent it to the National Portrait Exhibition, 1866, is now in the National Portrait Gallery (No. 1035);[171] a second, apparently a copy from the former, is in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. This latter was in the Tudor Exhibition, 1890 (No. 169), the Oxford Exhibition of Historical Portraits, 1904 (No. 24), and the Burlington Fine Arts Club Exhibition, 1909 (No. 50). It is a bust, three-quarters to left, with dark hair, beard, and moustache, and bald forehead, red drapery round the shoulders, and a plain brown background; and is inscribed “SYR·THOMAS·WYAT.” A smaller circular portrait, also on an oak panel, belonging to the Countess of Romney, showing Wyat in the same position, but dressed in the costume of his day, with a black coat lined with white fur, is attributed to Lucas Cornelisz.[172] It is inscribed, “Sir Thomas Wiat. B.1503. D.1541. Lucas Cornelii,” but this is of a later period than the painting, and the date of Wyat’s death is given wrongly. The head is in the same position as in the _Næniæ_ woodcut. On the back of this portrait was at one time another panel, which now hangs by it in Lady Romney’s collection, representing Wyat’s “Maze,” and painted as a record of an amusing incident in his diplomatic mission to Italy in 1527. In the centre of the maze is shown a falling centaur with the Pope’s triple crown on his head. There was a portrait of a Wyat in the Arundel collection (_il ritratto del Cavaglier Wyat_), but whether this was one of Sir Thomas, or the one of his father, now in the Louvre, is uncertain.

Footnote 171:

Reproduced in Mr. Cust’s illustrated catalogue of National Portrait
Gallery, vol. i. p. 20.

Footnote 172:

Reproduced in _Burlington Magazine_, vol. xvi., December 1909, p. 155.

There are two very similar circular portraits in existence of Wyat’s son, Sir Thomas Wyat, the younger, which bear so strong a likeness to the portraits of his father that at first sight they appear to have been painted from the same original. One of them was lent to the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1909 (No. 48), by the Rt. Hon. Lewis Fry, and the other belongs to Lady Romney.[173] He is shown in profile, to the left, looking upwards, the neck cut off at the beginning of the shoulders, as in the portraits of his father, and wearing a slight, light brown moustache, pointed beard, and short hair. Lady Romney’s version is of the same size as the Cornelisz portrait, while Mr. Fry’s more nearly approaches that of the National Portrait Gallery and Oxford portraits of his father. Mr. Fry’s panel was once in the collection of Charles I, having his brand on the back, and it is possibly the portrait which was in the possession of John, Lord Lumley, in 1590. The “classical” treatment followed in the cutting short of the bare neck has led to the erroneous supposition that the portrait has reference to Wyat’s decapitation in 1554 for rebellion against Queen Mary. It is possible that these portraits of the younger Wyat are based on a lost original by Holbein. He was born in 1521, so that he would have been twenty-two at the time of Holbein’s death. Mr. Roger E. Fry sees in Mr. Lewis Fry’s version a predominant Flemish influence. “It remains,” he says, “one of the most inscrutable riddles of the exhibition. It is a work of such great technical excellence that its authorship ought to be discoverable. It seems probable that it was painted in England and from life.”[174]

Footnote 173:

Both reproduced in _Burlington Magazine_, vol. xvi., December 1909, p.
158; and the former in the illustrated edition of the Exhibition
Catalogue, Pl. xvi.

Footnote 174:

_Burlington Magazine_, vol. xv., May 1909, p. 75.

The very interesting and beautiful portrait of a lady lent by Major Charles Palmer to the Royal Academy Winter Exhibition, 1907 (No. 13), and to the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1909 (No. 64) (Pl. 15),[175] is now identified, with some degree of certainty, as a portrait of Sir Thomas Wyat the elder’s sister, Margaret Wyat, Lady Lee. This identification is based upon an enlarged version of the portrait in the possession of Viscount Dillon at Ditchley, Oxfordshire, which, according to family tradition, is said to represent that lady, who was the wife of Sir Anthony Lee, and the mother of Sir Henry Lee, K.G. She is shown at three-quarters length, three-quarters to the left. Her hair, of reddish gold, is almost hidden by her black and white French hood decorated with a band of pearls arranged in groups of four, alternating with small panels of gold filigree work. Her dress is of dark-brown damask, puffed at the shoulders, and ornamented with numerous gold tags or points, and a rose-coloured petticoat. Her hands are clasped in front of her, and she holds by a short ribbon a circular gold medallion on which is a figure of Lucrece above a dark oblong stone. On her right hand are two signet rings, one with a red and one with a dark stone. The dress, open at the neck, shows a white collar or lining, and white ruffles cover her wrists. A rose in red enamel is at her breast, and a gold chain round her neck. Across the plain dark green background is inscribed, “ETATIS·SVÆ·34.” It is on panel, 16½ in. × 12½ in. Her long, very sharp nose resembles that of her brother, and her complexion is of a somewhat unpleasant reddish tone. The drawing of the face, and particularly of the hands, is very delicate. It is now in the Collection of Mr. Benjamin Altman, New York.

Footnote 175:

Reproduced in _Burlington Magazine_, vol. xv., June 1909,
frontispiece; illustrated catalogue of Burlington Fine Arts Club
Exhibition, Pl. xxii.; and Ganz, _Holbein_, p. 143.

VOL. II., PLATE 15 PORTRAIT OF A LADY
(Probably Margaret Wyat, Lady Lee)
UNTIL RECENTLY IN THE COLLECTION OF MAJOR CHARLES PALMER, NOW IN THAT
OF MR. BENJAMIN ALTMAN, NEW YORK
]

[Sidenote: PORTRAIT OF MARGARET WYAT, LADY LEE]

Opinion, so far, is divided as to whether this fine work is by Holbein or not. The first impression received is that it is certainly not by him, from the flatness of the modelling of the face, a certain hardness in the execution, and the rather unpleasant red tone of the complexion; but further examination considerably modifies this opinion. It is difficult, if the attribution to Holbein is rejected, to suggest the name of any other artist then practising in England, who possessed the ability to produce a portrait as fine and as remarkable as this one is. To Sir Martin Conway “it appears to be obviously and all over Holbein.”[176] Mr. Roger E. Fry says that “opinion is so divided that it would be rash to dogmatize. The picture is in wonderful condition and is entirely in Holbein’s manner. Indeed, it must in any case be derived directly from a drawing by Holbein. The only question to be settled is whether the master himself ever became so entirely the craftsman absorbed in the technical perfection of his work to the exclusion of the larger issues of expression; whether he could have ever so far lost his sense of relief, treated line so entirely as a matter of edge with so little sense of the mass it should define. Such questions can only be decided by a gradual consensus of opinion. My own belief is that it will be decided ultimately against Holbein’s having actually executed the painting, though I am bound to admit no other known imitator comes as near to Holbein himself as does the author of this.”[177] Dr. Ganz regards it as a genuine work by Holbein, and dates it 1540, drawing attention to the similarity of the enamelled rose fastened to her dress to the one worn by Lady Butts, who was painted by Holbein at about that date.[178] It will be seen that the critics are divided; and it is certainly by no means easy to arrive at a definite conclusion. It is interesting to note, as a minor point, that the gold tags with which Lady Lee’s dress is decorated are very similar to those on the surcoat of Sir Thomas Wyat in the Lucas Cornelisz portrait, and are arranged in much the same manner.

Footnote 176:

_Burlington Magazine_, vol. xvi., December 1909, p. 159.

Footnote 177:

_Ibid._, vol. xv., May 1909, pp. 74-5.

Footnote 178:

See Ganz, _Holbein_, p. 245.

The dated portraits of the year 1536 are only three, one of which, the Steelyard merchant, Derich Berck, has been already described.[179] The second is the portrait of Sir Richard Southwell in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence (Pl. 16),[180] of which there is an excellent replica in the Louvre. It was finished on the 10th July 1536, when Southwell was thirty-three years old. It is a small half-length figure, the face three-quarters to the right, wearing a black dress, open at the neck, with black satin sleeves, and a black cap with a circular gold medallion with a negro’s head carved in cornelian. His hands are folded, and he is wearing a gold ring with a green stone, and a gold chain round his neck. He is closely shaven, and his black hair, which partly covers his ears, is cut straight across the forehead. Across the plain dark green background is inscribed on either side of the head in gold lettering:

Footnote 179:

See pp. 22-23.

Footnote 180:

Woltmann, 149. Reproduced by Ganz, _Holbein_, p. 108.

“· X^O · IVLII · ANNO ETATIS · SVÆ
· H · VIII · XXVIII ANNO XXXIII.”

It is on an oak panel about 19 in. high × 14 in. wide. This is one of Holbein’s finest portraits of his second English period, and displays a very subtle insight into what must have been an unattractive and in many ways despicable nature. The small brown eyes have a look of cunning, and the face with its smooth fat cheeks has few pretensions to comeliness. Southwell was heir to great wealth, and was brought up with Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and was intimate with the family of the Duke of Norfolk. In 1531 he was obliged to pay a fine of £1000 before he could obtain pardon for being concerned in a murder, yet three years later he was Sheriff of Norfolk. From 1535 onwards he took an active share in the dissolution of the monasteries, and was in all ways a willing and able tool of his royal master. His treachery helped to bring Sir Thomas More to the scaffold, and, later on, he played an even more treacherous part at the trial of his early companion, the Earl of Surrey. He was knighted in 1542, and appointed one of the King’s executors, and under Queen Elizabeth he became Master of Ordnance. Something of his unsavoury character is suggested by Holbein in his portrait, which is distinguished by its remarkable individuality and its fine technical qualities both in the flesh painting, more particularly in the hands and the eyes, and in all the details of the costume. Nothing is known of the history of the picture except that it belonged to the Earl of Arundel, who presented it to Cosimo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1620,[181] as one of the best Holbeins in his collection. It is still in its seventeenth-century frame, with a silver tablet engraved with the arms of England and the Medici, and an inscription, “Effigies domini Ricardi Southwelli Equitis aurati, consiliarii privati Henrici VIII, Regis Angliae.—Opus celeberrimi artificis Johannis Holbieni pictoris Regis Henrici VIII.”

Footnote 181:

See _Rivista d’Arte_, vi. 5, 6, 1909.

VOL. II., PLATE 16
SIR RICHARD SOUTHWELL
1536
UFFIZI GALLERY, FLORENCE
]

[Sidenote: PORTRAIT OF SIR RICHARD SOUTHWELL]

The replica in the Louvre (No. 2719)[182] corresponds in all its details with the Florence picture, and appears to be only a good old copy. It has on the back the seal of the Newton family, and was brought by Napoleon from Germany in 1806. Another copy was lent to the National Portrait Exhibition at South Kensington, 1866, by Mr. H. E. Chetwynd Stapylton. A portrait of Southwell, apparently based on Holbein’s picture, was lent to the Tudor Exhibition, 1890 (No. 217), by Mr. W. H. Romaine Walker. In this version Southwell’s coat of arms and the inscription “Copley Stili” are on the right-hand side of the background, and on the left “Richd. Southwell of Horsham St. Faith’s in Norfolk ÆT.95.” The age in this inscription is altogether wrong, for Southwell was fifty-seven at his death in 1561.

Footnote 182:

Reproduced by Ganz, _Holbein_, p. 218.

Holbein’s study for the portrait is one of the most remarkable among the Windsor drawings.[183] The head and shoulders only are shown, but otherwise it is almost identical with the Uffizi panel; even the four black buttons which stand out against the white shirt are indicated in the same position as in the finished work. It is inscribed “[A]NNO ETTATIS SVÆ 33,” and bears the note in Holbein’s own handwriting, “die augen ein wenig gelbass” (the eyes a little yellowish). This study, which is about 16 in. × 11 in., is in excellent condition.

Footnote 183:

Woltmann, 304; Wornum, i. 20; Holmes, i. 34. Reproduced by Davies, p.
180; Ganz, _Hdz. von H. H. dem Jüng._, Pl. 37; _Drawings of Hans
Holbein_, Pl. xlvi; and elsewhere.

The third portrait of 1536 represents Sir Thomas le Strange. It is on panel, 15¼ × 10½ in., and was exhibited at the Tudor Exhibition, 1890 (No. 113), and at the Burlington Fine Arts Club Exhibition, 1909 (No. 41), lent by Mr. Hamon le Strange.[184] It is a bust portrait, three-quarters to the left. The sitter has greyish hair cut straight across the forehead, and a short brown beard and moustache. His black cap has a number of gold tags and a medallion, and he wears a gown with a brown fur collar over a black dress, a pleated white collar from which long tags hang down, and a long gold chain over his shoulders. Across the top, on the green-blue background, is the repainted inscription “ANNO D^E 1536 ÆTATIS SVÆ 43.” It has suffered considerable repainting about the face, but it is a picture of much interest, and since it was last exhibited has been acknowledged by most of the leading critics to be a genuine work by Holbein. The original drawing for this picture, which shows some slight differences, is in the Windsor collection.[185] Sir Thomas Strange or le Strange, of Hunstanton, Norfolk, was born in 1493, and entered the service of Henry VIII as esquire of the body, was knighted, and accompanied the king to the Field of the Cloth of Gold. He was High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1532, and died in 1545.

Footnote 184:

Reproduced by Ganz, _Holbein_, p. 109, and in the illustrated
catalogue of the Burlington Fine Arts Club Exhibition, Pl. xii.

Footnote 185:

Woltmann, 294; Wornum, i. 32; Holmes, ii. 6.

A small, undated bust portrait of Lady Vaux, wife of Thomas, second Lord Vaux, of Harrowden, the poet, has every appearance of belonging to this period. There are two versions of it, one in the Prague Gallery (No. 608),[186] and one at Hampton Court (No. 591 (337)).[187] Dr. Ganz regards both as old copies, but Sir Claude Phillips considers the former to be the original work by Holbein, and A. von Zahn says that it is indubitably original, but has suffered so severely and has been so heavily over-painted that little of Holbein’s handiwork is left. The Hampton Court version is the better of the two, and is apparently an excellent copy, though in technique of a somewhat later date.[188] It has been held, nevertheless, by most English writers to be a genuine but badly-damaged work of Holbein. The head has been repainted, which gives it that faded appearance noted by Mr. Wornum[189] and Dr. Waagen,[190] though the latter attributed it to “the attempt to give the refinements of the modelling in grey half-tones,” in doing which Holbein “sacrificed the warm local colours observable in his earlier pictures.” On the other hand, many of the accessories, such as the gold-and-enamel medallion, the chain round her neck, the ring, and the cuffs, display a delicacy of execution not easily attributable to anyone but Holbein. She is represented to the waist, almost full-face, the body turned slightly to the spectator’s left, and is dressed in black, with ermine upon the sleeves, and the customary diamond-shaped hood, edged with pearls, and with a black fall. She wears a thin black chain round her neck, and at her breast a circular brooch with a figure of the Virgin enthroned. Her hands rest in her lap, and in her right she holds a pink. It is on panel, 1 ft. 3 in. high by 11¼ in. wide. Mr. Law suggests that it is identical with “The picture of Madame de Vaux, by Holbein,” which was among the Duke of Buckingham’s pictures sent to be sold at Antwerp, whence it presumably returned with the “Dutch Gift,” and may, perhaps, be identified with No. 410 in James I’s catalogue, described as “One of King Henry VIII’s Queens, holding a gillyflower.”[191] There is a study for the head among the Windsor drawings,[192] in which the strengthening lines are exceptionally hard and pronounced, and mar an otherwise fine drawing. Holbein also painted her husband, though the picture has been lost, but the very beautiful drawing for it, described in a later chapter,[193] remains at Windsor. There is a second study of Lord Vaux by Holbein in the same collection.

Footnote 186:

Woltmann, 243. Reproduced by Ganz, _Holbein_, p. 220.

Footnote 187:

Woltmann, 163. Reproduced by Law, _Royal Gallery of Hampton Court_, p.
212; Ganz, _Holbein_, p. 221.

Footnote 188:

See Ganz, _Holbein_, p. 252.

Footnote 189:

Wornum, p. 411.

Footnote 190:

_Treasures of Art in Great Britain_, vol. ii. p. 361.

Footnote 191:

Law, _Royal Gallery of Hampton Court_, p. 213.

Footnote 192:

Woltmann, 321; Wornum, ii. 30; Holmes, i. 24. Reproduced by Davies, p.
218; Ganz, _Holbein_, p. xxxvii.; and elsewhere.

Footnote 193:

See p. 257. See also pp. 52-53 with reference to the “Portrait of a
Musician” at one time considered to represent Lord Vaux.

VOL. II., PLATE 17
SIR NICHOLAS CAREW
_Drawing in black and coloured chalks_
BASEL GALLERY
]

[Sidenote: PORTRAIT OF SIR NICHOLAS CAREW]

The portrait of Sir Nicholas Carew, Henry’s Master of the Horse, was probably painted during the earlier years of Holbein’s second residence in London. It could not have been done later than 1537, for in 1538 Carew was thrown into prison for supposed connection with the conspiracy of Cardinal Pole and the Marquis of Exeter, and was beheaded on March 3rd, 1539. There is a brilliant study for this portrait in the Basel Gallery (Pl. 17), a drawing in black and coloured chalks.[194] He is wearing body armour, and has a short beard and moustache; his hair is concealed by a close-fitting coif, and there are an octagonal medallion and a white feather in his black cap. It is one of the most masterly drawings Holbein ever made, searching in its truth, and of exact and delicate draughtsmanship.[195] As it was included among the collection of works by Holbein formed by his friend and admirer, Bonifacius Amerbach, it may have been presented to the latter by the artist himself when he was in Basel in 1538.

Footnote 194:

Woltmann, 31. Reproduced by Davies, p. 212; Ganz, _Hdz. Schwz. Mstr._,
iii. 40, and _Holbein_, p. xxxiii. Dr. Ganz is of the opinion that
this drawing is of Holbein’s first English period, and that the
finished portrait was painted in 1527 or 1528. See _Holbein_, p. 238.

Footnote 195:

It has been suggested that the fine drawing of an English lady in the
same collection is a portrait of Lady Carew, but it more probably
represents Lady Guldeford. See Vol. i. p. 321.

The oil painting done from this study is in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, K.G.,[196] and was last publicly exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1909 (No. 45). It is a three-quarters length, turned to the left as in the drawing. The beard is brown, and the coif below the black hat is of cloth of gold. The octagonal gold badge represents a tree stem raguly and a banderole inscribed “SOLA.” He is wearing full plate-armour, and brown trunks slashed with cloth of gold. With his right hand he holds a white truncheon against his hip, and with the other grasps his sword by the scabbard. The background is a green damask curtain, and on a small cartellino in the left-hand bottom corner is inscribed in a cursive hand “SR NICHOLAS CAREWE, MASTER OF THE HORSE TO KING HENRY YE 8.” It is on a panel of unusual shape, being 36 in. high by 40 in. wide. This picture, as a whole, is a fine and interesting example of Tudor portraiture, but parts of it are certainly not by Holbein. The head is good, but the armour and many of the details are by some other, and possibly a later, hand. The probabilities are that it was begun by Holbein and finished by someone else; perhaps the arrest of Carew may have brought the completion of the work to an abrupt conclusion as far as Holbein was concerned. The fact that his name is given on the cartellino suggests that the portrait may be a posthumous one. It was not the usual custom at that time to place more than the date and the age of the person depicted upon the panel. Except in the form of a superscription to a letter held by the sitter, as in the Kratzer, Cromwell, and some of the Steelyard portraits, Holbein was not in the habit of adding the name to the pictures he painted in England. The “Duchess of Milan” is an exception,[197] but even here there is every probability that the cartellino was painted in at a later date. It is difficult to decide whether the Carew portrait was begun by Holbein and finished by some other hand, or whether it is an almost contemporary copy from some lost original. The head follows the Basel drawing closely, but as the latter was owned by Amerbach it is improbable that a copyist could have made use of it; so that, taking all things into consideration, it is safer to assume that Holbein himself had a share in its painting.[198] This portrait was in the possession of John, Lord Lumley, in 1590, and was sold from Lumley Castle in 1785 for ten guineas. In the inventory of 1590 it is described as “Of S^r Nichls Carewe M^r of the horse to K:H:8”; and it is interesting to note that the words “drawne by Haunce Holbyn” are not added, as they are after several other works by the master which Lord Lumley possessed. It has been suggested that this portrait is the “Ritratto d’homo armato” of the Arundel inventory of 1655, but if the picture remained in the possession of the Lumley family until 1785 this supposition cannot be correct. Symonds, in his Note-Books, has an entry of “A Ritratto of an English knight by Holbein who sits in a chayre and a table by him,” in the collection of the Earl of Northumberland in Suffolk House, which seems to refer to this picture.[199]

Footnote 196:

Woltmann, 142. Reproduced in illustrated catalogue of Burlington Fine
Arts Club Exhibition, 1909, Pl. xv.; Ganz, _Holbein_, p. 77.

Footnote 197:

Also the Cheseman portrait.

Footnote 198:

Dr. Ganz, as already noted, considers it to be a genuine work of
1527-8.

Footnote 199:

Quoted by Mr. C. H. Collins Baker in _Lely and the Stuart Portrait
Painters_, Vol. ii. p. 184.

------------------------------------------------------------------------