King Henry VIII
/https://agsa-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/media/dd/images/30964-HQ-0.7c8acbc.jpg)
- Place made
- London
- Medium
- oil on wood panel
- Dimensions
-
65.0 x 57.5 cm
89.5 x 81.5 x 9.0 cm (frame) - Credit line
- A.M. and A. R. Ragless Bequest Funds 1965
- Accession number
- 0.2049
- Signature and date
- Not signed. Not dated.
- Provenance
- Possibly 4th Earl of Pembroke [Philip Herber] (1584-1650); Unknown provenance before 1866; Sophia de Voeux (nee Coventry) by 1866 (exhibited at National Portrait Exhibition in the year); By descent to the Misses Milligan, Caldwell Hall, Derbyshire to 1960; Sale of contents of Caldwell Hall by John German & Son, 25-27 October, 1-3 November 1960, lot 292 as "Hans Holbein After. Henry VIII in Rich Costume. Panel 25 1/4 in. x 22 22 in."; With Legatts by 1964; Purchased by Sir Alexander Downer for AGSA 1964.
- Media category
- Painting
- Collection area
- British paintings
-
WALL LABEL: King Henry VIII, c.1540s
Hans Holbein’s portrait of Henry VIII, originally commissioned for the Palace of Whitehall, has become the most recognisable image of this infamous monarch. Several different versions of this painting exist and, while AGSA’s painting is not likely to have been painted by Holbein himself, it was certainly painted during Henry’s lifetime. Today Henry VIII is one of the most notorious members of the British royal family, known of course for his six wives, or perhaps more importantly his ability to get rid of them!
Recent scientific assessment indicates that no drawing lies beneath the paint layer, although there is evidence of small dots of chalk, known as ‘pouncing’. This technique was a method of transferring a drawing (on paper) onto the wood panel: small holes were made in the paper, outlining the image, with chalk then pushed through these pin holes, removing the need for comprehensive underdrawing. Infrared imagery also highlighted the existence of gold and silver leaf under the top paint layers, a technique used in the sixteenth century to emulate the gold and silver woven textiles favoured by royalty.
Tansy Curtin, Curator of International Art Pre-1980
-
Reimagining the Renaissance
Art Gallery of South Australia, 20 July 2024 – 13 April 2025
-
[Book] Picture Book: Selected Works from the Collections of the Art Gallery of South Australia.
-
[Journal] National Gallery of South Australia Bulletin.
-
[Book] Paget, Hugh. Lucas Hornebolt, Court Painter to Henry VIII.
-
[Catalogue] Tomory, Peter, and Robert Gaston. 1989. European paintings before 1800 in Australian and New Zealand public collections : summary catalogue. Sydney: Beagle Press.
-
[Newsletter] n.d. Adelaide: Art Gallery of South Australia.
Art Gallery of South Australia Newsletter Vol. 6, no. 16 (Sept. 1985)-v. 6, no. 54 (Mar. 1989) -
[Book] Radford, Ron. Island to Empire 300 years of British Art 1550-1850.
-
[Book] Curtin, Tansy. Tudors to Windors: British Royal Portraits.
Complimentary copy to come. -
[Book] AGSA 500.
-
[Journal] AGSA Magazine.