Image: Henry VIII and Henry VII, by Hans Holbein the Younger

Description: Henry VIII and Henry VII, cartoon for wall painting in Whitehall, 1537. Pen in black, with grey, brown, black, and red wash; paper mounted on canvas, 257.8 × 137.1 cm. National Portrait Gallery, London. This is the only remaining section of a preparatory drawing Holbein made for a mural at the Palace of Whitehall that included life-sized portraits of Henry VIII, Jane Seymour, Henry VII, and Elizabeth of York. Holbein would have transferred the picture to the wall by pricking holes along the outlines with a needle and blowing or dabbing fine charcoal powder through to mark the surface. The mural, which was destroyed by fire in 1698, is now known through a copy made by Remigius van Leemput in 1667, and through printed versions. The pose struck in this drawing was much copied and became the most famous image of Henry VIII. Holbein's half-length portrait of Henry in this pose is in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid, but all other surviving versions, which often show the king looking more directly forward, are not by Holbein himself. The king's stance is intentionally heroic, in accordance with the Tudor propaganda inscribed on the stone block in the centre of the mural. At this time, the pose was unusual, since standing with legs apart, though heroic, had been considered impolite; but it was later imitated, for example in portraits of Henry's son and heir, Edward VI. (Reference: Buck, pp. 112–19.)
Title: Henry VIII and Henry VII, by Hans Holbein the Younger
Credit: Stephanie Buck, Hans Holbein, Cologne: Könemann, 1999, ISBN 3829025831.
Author: Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/1498–1543)
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No