Henry VIII's Incomparable Artist

In the eyes of the French poet Nicholas Bourbon, a visitor to England in the mid-1530s during the reign of Henry VIII, Hans Holbein was an "incomparable painter". There's another splendid chance to appreciate the German's unparalleled skill as a portraitist in Holbein at the Tudor Court at the Queen's Gallery in London, though this exhibition is less a celebration of Holbein the painter -- there are only half a dozen or so large-scale paintings by him in this show -- than of Holbein the draughtsman. 

It's these astonishing works that down nearly five centuries have brought to life the characters who were making history during the great upheaval of Henry's reign. Nicholas Bourbon is there in front of you. As is Thomas More, the hint of stubble on his cheeks picked out in black chalk, the sheen on his fur collar highlighted by leaving the paper blank.

We've seen these portraits before, of course, but they never fail to amaze. Henry's reign is when English history really seems to become tangible -- think of the enormous success of Hilary Mantel's novel Wolf Hall and its sequels -- and part of that is down to Holbein's portraits.  

At the core of this exhibition is a collection of drawings made by Holbein as preparatory studies for paintings during his two periods in England between his arrival from Basel in 1526 and his death in 1543; the finished painting of Sir Thomas More -- Henry's one-time chancellor, later executed for treason for his opposition to the King's rejection of papal supremacy -- is now in the Frick Collection in New York.

The drawings were initially bound into an album, described in 1590 as "a great booke of Pictures done by Haunce Holbyn of certain Lordes, Ladyes, gentlemen and gentlewomen". Originally in Henry's possession, the album came back into the Royal Collection after Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660. 

The names at the top of the drawings identifying the sitters were added in the 18th century, but also visible are Holbein's memos to himself to indicate the colour and material of their clothing in a mixture of German and English, such as "rot damast" and "schwarz felbet". This drawing of John Godsalve, the Clerk of the Signet responsible for the administration of licences and warrants granted by the King, is unusual in that it is worked up to a greater extent and may have been intended as a finished work in its own right. But it's uncompleted, suggesting Holbein may still have been working on it when he died. 

Holbein was much in demand for his abilities from the leading lights in Tudor society. But these are not always flattering portraits. William Warham, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was caught between his loyalities to the Church and to the King as Henry sought a divorce from Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn. The prelate's entire facial expression seems to be that of a man worn down by the worries of his position. 

And as for Anne Boleyn herself? Well, there's the distinct impression of a double chin in this portrait of the woman who played such a key role in history. 

Holbein's art represented an incredible step-up in levels of realism at the English court from what had gone before. His father also employed foreign artists, but the Flemish painter or painters who created The Family of Henry VII with St George and the Dragon weren't exactly at the cutting edge of their craft at the start of the 16th century, compared with things we saw in the Flemish masterpieces show in Antwerp or the Dieric Bouts exhibition in Leuven recently. 

Holbein was appointed King's Painter in the mid-1530s on a salary of £30 a year. That doesn't sound much, does it? Indeed, according to the Bank of England's historic inflation calculator, that sum would only buy goods and services worth around £20,500 today, so he probably wouldn't have qualified for a skilled-worker visa under the Rishi Sunak government ("No, Your Majesty, we must train up unemployed English artists to fill these vacancies").  

Henry had spent £35,000 (more than £26 million in today's money) on the lavish 18-day summit meeting in 1520 on the outskirts of Calais (then still in English hands) to celebrate a peace treaty with Francis I, the King of France, an event known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold. This huge canvas, painted a couple of decades later by multiple artists, gets across some of the splendour of the occasion (Head to the Royal Collection's website to zoom in on the details). 

The English built a temporary palace, seen on the right, of painted canvas stretched over wooden frames, but with real glass windows, out of which people are peeping. Fountains in the forecourt flowed with wine. The two Kings can be seen meeting in the tent of gold cloth at the top centre of the image, while on the right they're shown again with their Queens watching a jousting tournament. At the top left flies what was supposed to be a dragon-shaped firework. 

Henry was young and athletic in 1520, but 20 years later he'd put on quite a lot of weight, as you can appreciate from the displayed suit of armour that had been enlarged to allow for the King's increasing girth.

But a podgy royal waistline wasn't the image of Henry that Holbein left to posterity. A king-sized monarch, certainly, but imposing, commanding. The original, a mural in Whitehall Palace, was destroyed in a fire in 1698, but it was copied many times.    

That image and Holbein's portrait of Henry's third wife, Jane Seymour, were taken up by an unknown artist a couple of years after Holbein's death for this portrait of Henry and his family. Jane, already long dead of complications after giving birth to Henry's only male heir, Edward, occupies the centre of the painting with them.  

Henry's daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, stand separately to each side. Henry was already on his sixth wife by this time, but she plays no part in this dynastic Tudor image. 

The very last work you're presented with in this show is Holbein's portrait of a young German merchant, Derich Born.

It's a testament to Holbein's extraordinary skill as a portraitist. And Holbein was perfectly aware of that ability. "If you added a voice, this would be Derich his very self," reads the Latin inscription painted as if chiselled into the stone ledge on which Born leans. "You would be in doubt whether the painter or his father made him." 

Practicalities

Holbein at the Tudor Court is on at the Queen's Gallery in London until April 14. The gallery is open Thursdays to Mondays from 1000 to 1730. Full-price tickets cost £19 including the audioguide and are best booked in advance, which you can do here. The show was so popular when we visited that the cloakroom was full and we had to wait till someone collected their coats to free up a place for ours. Tickets can be converted into passes giving free readmission to the gallery, including subsequent exhibitions, for a year (The next show, starting in May, is Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography). We spent well over two hours going round the exhibition.

The venue is located right next to Buckingham Palace and less than 10 minutes walk from Victoria Station with its London Underground and main-line rail services.

Holbein elsewhere.... 

If you're on the Continent, Holbein and his father Hans the Elder star in Holbein and the Renaissance in the North at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt until February 18, a show that moves on to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna in mid-March. 

Images

Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/98-1543), Sir Thomas More, 1527
Hans Holbein the Younger, John Godsalve, c. 1543?
Hans Holbein the Younger, William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1527
Hans Holbein the Younger, Anne Boleyn, 1532-36
Unknown artists, The Field of Cloth of Gold, c. 1544
English School, The Family of Henry VIII, c. 1545
Hans Holbein the Younger, Derich Born, 1533
All images Royal Collection Trust/© His Majesty King Charles III 2023