Hans Holbein's Portrait Drawings: A View of the Tudor Court

hello and welcome back to the channel if you're new here hi you're very welcome this is read in the past and I'm dr. Kat and today I want to think a little bit about the art of the early modern period so-called Renaissance art because there's something quite special about as far as I'm concerned if we look at the portraiture of this period it is typify die it's realism the fact that it depicts and even shapes and individuals identity I think that it's one of the reasons why we find the Tudors and their success is so compelling the fact that we can look into these faces 500 years old and feel connection with them that we can imagine that we know what they thought what they felt perhaps even what they were like because these people and their faces look so very familiar they look like us and as far as I'm concerned there is one collection of images that does it better than all of the rest they offer an absolutely astounding window into the court and family of Henry the eighth they are hands hold by the youngers portrait drawings and that's what I'm talking about today [Music] [Music] hands Holbein the younger was born into an artistic family in southern Germany the year of his birth is given as being between 1497 and 1498 by 1515 he had followed the family profession and was living and working as an artist in Basel Switzerland in 1526 he travelled to England and he spent two years here building his reputation as an artist evidently he was also building profitable connections with prominent people at Henry the eighth's Royal Court between fifteen twenty eight to fifteen thirty one or two he was back in Basel perhaps he was ensuring his links with the artistic hub there maybe he had to finish off some artistic commissions it could of course have been both in 1531 or two he returns to England and he remains here until his death in 1543 Hans Holbein the younger is buried in st. Catherine creature cured London the collection of portrait drawings that I want to explore today are dated from both of the periods when Hans Holbein was resident in England despite the fact that these are arguably whole Pines draft works a first step on the road to a finished portrait the album of 80 portrait drawings remained embroiled hands the rural collection which still holds the work lists them as being in Henry the eighth's possession after his death they passed into the hands of his son Edward the sixth some chewing and throwing occurs until they were officially acquired by charles ii in 1675 the record of this acquisition includes the following quotation the book has long been a wanderer but is now most happily fallen into the Kings collection at some point perhaps during the reign of William the third the album was moved to Kensington Palace placed in a draw and seemingly forgotten about until it was rediscovered by the intellectual and artistic patron a vertical powerhouse Queen Caroline of Ansbach Queen consort and frequent regent for her husband George a second Queen Caroline displayed these portrait drawings in the room that she claimed was her own closet it was located between the drawing-room and the Kings gallery at Kensington and as I said this collection images remained in the Royal Collection to this day it has been suggested that Holbein used these portrait drawings as a trace or transfer for the intended final portrait perhaps he pierced the outlines and contours of the drawing so that charcoal dust or some other substance could be saved through to mark the surface or canvas beneath one of the key elements of hole binds finished portraiture is the exquisite detail that he puts into the clothing of his subjects this is shown in the portrait that Henry the eighth commissioned of Anne of Cleves which I've made a video on and I will leave linked in a cart indeed the attention to detail and the quality of representation for both clothing and objects in the ambassador's painting has long been marked upon and in fact I made a video discussing that very painting which I will leave linked in a card as well in the portrait drawings however this level of detail does not feature Holbein merely indicates the presence of fine jewelry and clothing using more abstract lines presumably for Speed Holbein works on prepared colored paper in a variety of Pink's that could capture the English skin tone instead the detailed work is done in the face and I would argue that it feels that he is not simply reproducing their physical appearance but also their emotional states and character by being able to see them in this way without their armor or ornamentation does this somehow make them seem more human as there are 80 portrait drawings which are still extant in the royal collection coming from this album I will be focusing on just a few examples during whole Bynes first stay in England alongside his other commissioned he evidently finds favor and welcome in the household of Sir Thomas More Henry the eighth's friend and advisor and in around 1527 he makes this drawing plan or study for his representation of Moores family the viewer feels as if they have come upon this family in a private moment many members of the family are shown holding books and they are prayer books we are witnessing this family unit as they have joined together discussing the business of their lives before they settle down to pray together from left to right we have Thomas More's daughter Elizabeth now aged 21 in this portrait she appears have just arrived she is pulling off her gloves next to her is Thomas More's 22 year old Ward or foster daughter Margaret Giggs she is looking over the shoulder of John Mohr Thomas his father on the other side of John Moore is an CREZ acre she is the fiance of Thomas More's son and in this image she is 50 beside her is Thomas Moore himself next to him is his son also John Moore he is 19 then we come upon Henry Pattinson Thomas More's jester age 50 seated in front of the jester is Cecilia Thomas More's 20 year old daughter next to her is his other daughter Margaret age 22 seems to the extreme rights that the image is Thomas More's wife Alice we are told at this point she is 57 all of this information is contained within the annotations that have been made on this image hull binds final finished version of this portrait was unfortunately destroyed we believe in a fire in 1752 however there are seven portrait chlorines that exist for whole Bynes plant image and I have chosen to overlay them and connect into the person they represent on the original drawing as shown here however if we look at this image I think we've got a fairly good idea of what the finished painting might have looked like because this is a copy made by Roland blocky and it's known as the nostril priori version it dates to 1592 which is before the original was destroyed by fire therefore I believe that lucky is working either from the plan or more likely from the Finnish painting itself and if that's the case I think it must been pretty fabulous we have to extract portrait drawings depicting Sir Thomas Moore both from around the same time so 1520 6 to 7 the time when that family portrait is being made by Holbein it's also the time that this individual portrait date to 1527 is being met this portrait is now held in the Frick Collection here we see Sir Thomas Moore dressed sumptuously wearing his trading of office signifying his closeness and importance to his monarch when looking at the preparatory works and end result of whole lions time with Sir Thomas Moore some have suggested that it's possible to see evidence of the artists personal feeling for his subject and the capacity of those feelings to alter the work he produced they see that Holbein has represented Sir Thomas Moore as a kind and gentle man with an open face of course perhaps this is the case for all of Holbein subjects he finds the good in every single one of them and attempts to represent it well as the next image will show perhaps it isn't quite that simple I have chosen to place for comparison the image of Sir Thomas Moore alongside the image of Thomas Cromwell and indeed the Frick Collection in New York which holds both of these portraits has chosen to display them in a very similar fashion they face each other across a fireplace so that question did Holbein allow his feelings for his subject to alter the work he produced some have claimed that his portrait of Thomas Cromwell shows his dislike of the man all those eyes made to seem media and more scheming than they really were why has he given Cromwell less space in the frame why is his clothing less lustrous do you agree that Cromwell has shown to look respectable but perhaps little unpleasant there is however some question as to whether this portrait of Cromwell is a copy or by Holbein himself and I wonder either way does that alter our impression of this image and also our impression of hope as an artist how much he allows his personal feelings to sway his end product it is my assumption that Holbein did produce a portrait drawing of Thomas Cromwell before preparing this finished image but that portrait drawing is now either lost or destroyed does that make a difference to how we view the finished article I would argue that it does the portrait drawings of Hans Holbein as far as I'm concerned provide additional context I believe that through them we are shown both of the artists all visually and what he experienced personally the next five portrait drawings that I want to look at really stand out as far as I'm concerned each depicts a woman from Henry the eighth's Court but she is positioned square on and it almost feels like she is challenging the viewer with her direct gaze I do wonder what you're going to make at these images and I'd be fascinated to know what you think whole bun is saying about his subjects through them first up is an image of apparently an unidentified woman although at one time it was identified as an or Brandon daughter of Charles Brandon and Mary Tudor Henry the eighth's sister this portrait drawing is dated to Holbein second spell in England and is given a date range of between 15 32 and 15 43 next we meet Frances the Countess of Surrey she was the daughter of John de Vere the 15th Earl of Oxford and the wife of Henry Howard Ernest re this portrait drawing of her dates again from Holbein second spell in England but has a much tighter date range from 1532 to 1533 lady number three is also unidentified this image of her dates from between 1530 to to 1543 in her book Holbein in England from 2006 Susan Forester looks at this image and explains quote there has been speculation that this drawing represents an occluder Emilia but her dress is quite different and clearly English I said that I found five portrait drawings to be particularly startling and this is the third of those five images we don't know who two minutes we don't know why hold by and drew a portrait drawing offer what was this intended to be worked up into but of all of those startling five images in some ways this is the one that shocks me the most this is the one that I connect with the most and I can't quite put my finger on why perhaps it's the clarity of the face the lines the eyes the fact that the emotion is somewhat inscrutable in her face she also feels very modern to me she looks like somebody that you might see on the street perhaps she reminds me of a friend I haven't quite realized it but I'd like to know what you think of this image and in fact all of the images that I'm going to be showing you number four is named as the lady Parker this attribution is a confusing one some have said it refers to Jane Parker Lady Rochford wife of George Boleyn sister-in-law of at however the art historian Katie Parker rules this attribution out rather he suggests that this figure is the first or second wife of Sir Henry Parker the heir to Henry Lord morning so Henry Parker's first wife was Grace and his second wife Elizabeth however he doesn't marry Elizabeth until 1549 which is after whole Bynes death nevertheless the inscription also comes after whole Bynes death perhaps he paints Elizabeth before her marriage and the person who makes the inscription recognizes her as Elizabeth Parker nevertheless it suggested that if this inscription is reliable grace Parker is perhaps the more likely candidate the fifth portrait drawing is asserted through its label to be of lady Ratcliffe the title of lady Ratcliffe could arguably refer to any number of women so Robert Rutland himself had three wives nevertheless it is his son's wife formerly Lady Elizabeth Howard who is put forward as the principal candidate for this particular image and that is because she was the daughter of Thomas Howard and his second wife Agnes Tony and Holbein is known to have drawn many other members of the Howard family once again this portrait drawing comes from Holbein second spot in england dated from between 1530 to 2:15 43 I'd love to know what you think of these five portrait images do you agree with me that something odd is going on and by odd I think I mean modern because for me there is something startlingly modern about the way these women are being presented either by their own choice or by Hall binds the fact that we meet them square on their eyes lock with ours and it almost seems like a challenge is to me unusual because from everything I've read that is not how good Tudor ladies are supposed to behave they're supposed to be demure non-confrontational with their eyes downcast but these women to be appear to be the very opposite of compliance I wonder what you think though but just before we wrap up this video there are two more portrait drawings that I want to draw your attention to and that is because at one time or another they have both been said to represent and Berlin I think it's perhaps quite understandable just why this image has been said to be a bam bullet after all it is label in the top corner and a Berlin Queen but this is not the only image in the collection to be labeled like this and as I mentioned what some of the other items you're looking at these labels have frequently been questioned loin will cost in an article from February 1911 discusses the collection of Port trait drawings and asserts that it comes quote from the infantry of Lord Lumley's pictures in 1590 where is described thus a great book of pictures done by Hans Holbein of certain Lords ladies gentlemen and gentle women in King Henry the eighth's his time their names subscribed by Sir John cheek secretary took him out of the sixth which book was kept of the sex according to cust it is this important entry which tells us that Edward Tudor Sir John cheek was the authority for the names written on the drawings separate of which are known for certain to be incorrect so what's the reason for doubting Sir John cheeks label of this image as Anne Boleyn well while he was certainly a prominent figure at the court of Henry the eighth as choose to his son the future ed the sick we aren't quite sure when he turns up we think he labels these pictures in 1542 six years after ambulance execution is it possible that he wasn't even at court while she was still alive thus we have to ask did he ever really see her in the flesh and if he didn't see her in the flesh and Henry the Eighth had ordered all images of Anne Boleyn destroyed which we believe he did how likely is it that Sir John cheek would have been able to label this image correctly having never seen the woman nor a surviving image of her this portrait drawing is dated to between 15:33 and 1536 so during an berlin's reign as Henry's Queen and it's this status that presents potentially a problem for this image being her but also may be a confirmation that it is some argue that it is highly unlikely that a queen of England could permit herself to be drawn in this incredibly informal fashion namely in her under cap while others suggest that that privileged position is what buys her the licence to be drawn in such a way that this very informal drawing is designed to do just that to draw her in a homely fashion perhaps she is drawn while pregnant this image into Sarah her as the mother of the future heir of England a few weeks ago I made a video entitled the traces of Anne Boleyn where I talked about things and items and images said to be related to Anne Boleyn that have remained after her fall I specifically chose not to include this image or the next we're going to look at because they are so very contested however I did include the one uncontested image from her lifetime it is her in a coronation medal so I suppose the question is does this portrait or cube represent a woman who could be the same woman represented on that medal all weak states to believe that the image on the coronation medal was supposed to be completely true to life well quite possibly it is a way of telling your public what you look like some see the trim of gold at the edge of the cap as evidence of blond hair something that Anne Boleyn is quite clearly stated to have not had she is known to have been dark others suggest this is not supposed to represent her hair rather it is the gold trimming of the cap itself clearly a display of opulence arguably the thing that complicates matter even further is the fact that this is not the only portrait image by Holbein but is said it depict Anne Boleyn because there is also this one not held in the Royal Collection rather it is in the collection of the British Museum this second portrait drawing also said to be of Anne Boleyn clearly depicts a different woman from the first image as far as I'm concerned I think perhaps at a push this image looks more like the image from the coronation medal but on that I won't be prepared to put down money it comes from a similar date as the first image data between 1532 and 1535 so during amber Lynn's ascendancy and queenship when hands hold when the younger returned to England in 1532 he'd returned to court was auspicious he was soon painting Thomas Cromwell as we see and had evidently obtained the favour of Anne Boleyn he was commissioned on her behalf to design coronation decorations jeweller and ornaments it is also believed that he did paint her portrait and presumably therefore produced a portrait drawing from which she could work we assume that like so many other images the finished portrait the whole pie made of Anne Boleyn would have been destroyed on the orders of hang with the eighth there is another factor that I suppose eating away at the back of my brain when I think about the possibility that an image of Anne Boleyn would have survived in this collection unless the fact as I mentioned the top of the video according to the Royal Collection website this album of portrait drawings was once owned by Henry the 8th himself I wonder how likely is it that this man who seems to have studiously attempted to expunge any and all record of his second wife's existence from the face of the earth would willingly hold a drawing of her face in his own collection for me I think that hands hold when the younger or Henry himself if they had found an image of her within this collection of portrait drawings would have been quite quick to remove it hide it or destroy it for my money I think both of these images of unlikely to depict amberlynn I am willing of course to have that opinion challenged and to be proved wrong and as I said I made the decision to exclude it from my video on the trace of Anne Boleyn but I want to know do you think I was right to do this do you think that either of these images represent the true face of amberlynn as far as you're concerned and if so which one I'd also have to know what you think of the other works we've looked at today as always I want to hear your thoughts on today's topic so please do let me know in the comment section beneath this video or you can come and find me over on my social media as always I'll leave links to my Instagram and Twitter in the description box you can find me there and we can continue this conversation I do hope you enjoyed this video and found it useful if you did then please let me know by hitting the thumbs up please also subscribe to the channel and while you're there get a notification bell next subscribe button so that YouTube tells you will have next uploaded I hope you're gonna have a great day whatever you're doing and I look forward to speaking to you in my next video take care of yourselves bye bye for now [Music] [Music]

Channel: Reading the Past

Views: 45,079

Rating: 4.9763398 out of 5

Keywords: Hans Holbein the Younger, Tudor, Courtiers, Art History, Education, Literature, Culture, History, Early Modern, Renaissance

Id: mECdV2ad3Zk

Length: 23min 58sec (1438 seconds)

Published: Fri May 08 2020