Face To Face With Henry VIII: Holbein At The Tudor Court @ Queen’s Gallery, London
The wonder of this exhibition is not how old, how lifelike or how so delicate objects survived despite binding into a book, unbinding, mounting, hanging, light, atmosphere, handling, smudging and display — but the Field of the Cloth of Gold painting where you can be eyeball to eyeball with Henry VIII…on a horse.
Not only was there a lot to see (40 out 80 existent drawings), but also preparatory drawings and paintings (where they survived) were compared together — he started, so he finished sort of thing. And you could see what got changed as Hans Holbein the Younger was the master of working quickly, moving from drawing a face to the jewels on a hat to marking the colours and textures of the clothes worn. Over time, Holbein started using colour combinations of chalks and layered shading to produce life-like skin textures. Eye colour was achieved with watercolour paint.
Although in all of this, Henry VIII was merely following on from what his father Henry VII had begun — attracting talented artists to his court. Henry VII loved Italian bronze sculptures. It was disapointing to learn that the delightful painted terracotta bust of a boy maybe isn’t a young Henry VIII, but it is very charming and full of movement. The side profile is incredible.
Just as you could get up close and almost personal with the newly cleaned Field of the Cloth of Gold (spot the wrestling, the Queens watching the jousting and the assembled local people and their children thronging the procession), you can also enjoy the texture of skin, the veins and lines on an elder’s face, the look from an eye and try to guess what empty hands should have been holding.
Famous now for his drawings and paintings, at the time, Holbein was into all kinds of design — including terrifying looking gun shields (like early tanks meeting armour), elegant object d’art for gift and incredible scrollwork.
Today the identity of his sitters are unknown or debated, despite labelling. Is this Anne Boleyn? And was the back of her drawing used as scrap for creating the Wyatt coat of arms and other heraldic miscellania? Why is she so casually dressed?
Is this Katherine Howard…or Anne of Cleves? And yes you may be Mistress Mary Zouch — but which one?
And that’s what this exhibition was particularly strong at doing — story-telling. Excellent information cards alongside gave us more of the life of the sitter and their connections and entanglements with the other sitters in the gallery. The wider sense of the young and dynamic, and showy, Tudor Court came to life.
Unexpectedly charming were the playing card-backed miniatures, such as of the sons of the King’s chosen friend, Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk and wife number four (!) Katherine. Utterly personal, they were designed for handling, perusal and affectionate appreciation. Rather than looking like an child version of the adults around him, this is very much a five year old boy — though an elite five year old boy on his best behaviour. The face, the cheeks, the jaunty hat and its equally jaunty feather — the delicacy of his hair, the little hand chubbily curled around the chair arm or table, the determination to focus and keep still. We have a strange idea that people in the past were emotionless and cared little for their children, given high levels of childhood illnesses and mortality — this miniature calls this belief out for a lie, showing the love, care and pride parents had in their children.
Not just for royalty, Holbein also created portraits for German merchants, such as Derich Born from Cologne. Ironically he ended up in dispute with the Duke of Suffolk over payment, who seemingly had him expelled from the London Steelyard in 1541. But there is much to admire in this work — from the background of delicately curling leaves to the precison pose, the sheer confidence oozing from the sitter and the way that his hands seem to break out of the frame.
Then there were the paintings that never were, or are no longer. Holbein gave Henry VIII his stance and swagger and created an iconic symbol. No wonder he was then chosen to create a dynastic symbol or two— the famously terrifying painting of life-size Henry VIII, Jane Seymour, Henry VII and Elizabeth of York (and the Queen’s pets) commanding at the Palace of Whitehall, Westminster, and Henry VIII, Jane Seymour, Edward, with Mary and Elizabeth, Princesses (again) at a distance in another painting. Elizabeth I borrowed this icon creating later on, with a sketch of a lost painting showing the Queen welcoming peace and plenty (as Classical goddesses) and banishing war, alongside a sheepish looking Mary I and Philip II of Spain in a corner of the throne room. Indeed, everyone wanted to copy the lavish slashed sleeves with jewels. To illustrate there was some of Henry VIII’s armour (allegedly by Holbein, but probably not due to its plainness).
The shock was the portrait of Jane Seymour — who seemed incredibly plain and severe. At the same time, she was also creating symbolism — that of the old ways being the best and most definitely not being like the Frenchified Anne Boleyn. With her tightly pressed lips and demure eyes, Jane the Queen is thoughtfully planning her next move, and being the epitome of modesty at the same time.
Lady Vaux on the other hand was something else — not doing the expected hands pressed together in modesty or prayerfulness, but looking to the side with a magnificent sweep of headdress.
Princess Mary was also a revelation as she was very beautiful, and very much her father’s daughter. We tend to think of her as the care-worn older Queen; here we see her in youthful beauty as a Princess, just as Elizabeth I was. She looks very like Katherine of Aragon when young.
@ Images are the property of the Royal Collection and His Majesty King Charles III and used only to illustrate the exhibition Holbein: At The Tudor Court @ The Queen’s Gallery. March 2024.
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