Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Hans Holbein the Younger’s “Henry VIII”

Hans Holbein the Younger’s “Henry VIII”


Date: 1540


Material: Oil on wood panel


Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Rome.


Hans Holbein was court painter to Henry VIII from around 1536 to his death in 1543, (www.wga.hu, Holbein, Hans.)

Henry’s figure takes up almost the whole space in the painting. Holbein depicts Henry in the clothes that he wore for his wedding to Anne of Cleves, (Stokstad, page 736.) Henry is wearing a white shirt with tunic over it and he is also wearing a coat. The upper part of his tunic has a red background with cream and gold embroidered pattern on top. The pattern looks like leaves twisting in figure eights from the neckline down to his wrist. In between the figure eights; tuffs of his white shirt are sticking out. Down the middle of his tunic; is a more closely embroidered pattern with four gemstones encrusted on it. Around his waist, he is wearing a belt, tied in the front. The bottom of the tunic has a vertical stripe pattern; solid red next to a yellowish cream leaf pattern. Henry’s coat is gold fabric with a pattern in a darker color, and is trimmed with dark brown fur. Across his chest is a jeweled encrusted ban connecting the sides of his coat. The sleeves of the coat come to rest an inch or two before his elbows. The rest of his arms are covered with his tunic. In his right hand, Henry is holding brown gloves, on his second finger he is wearing a jeweled ring. On his left hand second finger, his is wearing an identical ring. Around his neck, Henry is wearing a pendent with a cross on it; the length of the neckless falls to around his stomach. Hanging on his left side, at the bottom of the painting, is a sword hilt, almost the same color as his tunic. On his head, Henry is wearing a black hat with a feather on the right side. The hat has jewels on the front and a cream rim. The expression on Henry’s face looks angry, put out. He is sporting a brown beard that is shaved down the middle of his chin. He also has a mustache. The background of the picture is navy blue with writing in gold going across the top of the painting. The words are Latin; “ANNO AETATIS SUAE XLIX”: His year of age, 49 (www.wga.hu, "Henry VIII)


I picked Holbein’s “Henry VIII,” because I like the details Holbein put into Henry’s outfit, especially his tunic. Also, I have always been interested in the Tudors.

Sources:


Stokstad, Mary. Art History. 3rd ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc, 2008


Web Gallery of Art “Holbein, Hans.” <http://www.wga.hu/bio/h/holbein/hans_y/biograph.html>

Web Gallery of Art “Holbein, Hans. Henry VIII” <http://www.wga.hu/html/h/holbein/hans_y/1535h/06henry8.html>


2 comments:

  1. What I found so fascinating about this piece was that the artist chose to use a wide canvas to depict the power and magnitude of the king. I thought that was really clever.

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  2. Very detailed description. Did you like the painting?

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