Art, History, Portraits, Holbein, Tudors
On Hans Holbein’s Portrait Drawings
A current exhibition at The Queen’s Gallery in London offers a rare opportunity to come face to face with the real Tudors
‘Holbein at the Tudor Court’, at the Queen’s Gallery, focuses on the artist’s prolific period in England, orbiting the gilded circles of King Henry VIII. Born in Germany in 1497, Hans Holbein the Younger (his father was also a successful artist) was a true Renaissance man, accomplished not only in painting, but also engraving, book illustration, jewellery design, interior decor, and metalwork. Most famous, however, are his portraits of the royals, nobles, and power-players of Tudor England. Chances are that your idea and image of Henry VIII — the proud stance, the ominous glare, the imposing girth heaped in sumptuous fabrics and brilliant jewels — comes directly from Holbein’s 1530s painting. Less superficially impressive, perhaps, but equally remarkable as works of art, are the preparatory drawings Holbein made for his portrait paintings, over forty of which, from the Royal Collection, comprise the centrepiece of this exhibition.
