Imitations of Original Drawings by Hans Holbein in the Collection of His Majesty, for the Portraits of Illustrious Persons of the Court of Henry VIII.

Stipple Engravings printed in colours by Francesco Bartolozzi, after Holbein the younger. Published by John Chamberlaine. Printed by W. Bulmer & Co. 

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John Chamberlaine (1745 – 12 January 1812) was an antiquary and acted as Keeper of George III's  drawings, coins and medals from 1791 until his death in 1812. He published prints of drawings in the Royal Collection by Holbein, Leonardo, Annibale Carracci and others, for which Francesco Bartolozzi (1728-1815) the engraver and etcher, was commissioned as a printmaker. In February 1791, Chamberlaine was appointed Keeper of Drawings and Medals to the King, working alongside the Librarian, Frederick Augusta Barnard (who assumed the additional responsibility of the drawings and medals on Chamberlaine’s death). The eighty-four plates included in Chamberlaine’s 'Imitations' of Holbein’s drawings were published serially between March 1792 and February 1800; after the drawings by Hans Holbein, the younger 1497-1543.  Chamberlaine’s Introduction is dated 4 June 1800, which is the date of the publication of the complete series. The publication appeared in fourteen parts; each part included six plates. Our images are from an early re-issue.

Queen Catherine Howard
 [Unknown woman engraved as] Queen Catherine Howard
1797 Pink.   Lines: 11 1/2 x 7 5/8"     Plate: 13 3/8 x 9    Sheet 16 x 11 5/8"  no matt, white wood Frame 17 1/8 x 12 3/4"  
Ref. SB2 (161) /DVL/ s.andv> RVL   PRICE CODE B
Unknown woman Formerly identified and engraved as Catherine Howard (circa 1518-1542), the fifth wife of Henry VIII. As such, it was associated with two circular miniatures by Holbein.

Catherine Howard was a cousin of Henry VIII’s ill-fated second queen, Anne Boleyn; and like Anne, Catherine would die on the scaffold at Tower Green. Her birthdate is unknown, but her father was the younger brother of the duke of Norfolk. Though personally impoverished, Catherine had a powerful family name and thus secured an appointment as lady-in-waiting to Henry’s fourth queen, Anne of Cleves. While at court, she caught the eye of the middle-aged king and became a political pawn of her family and its Catholic allies. Catherine was understandably more attracted to men her own age and, after just seventeen months of marriage to the king, she was arrested for adultery. The distraught king at first refused to believe the evidence but it was persuasive. Unlike Anne Boleyn, Catherine had betrayed the king. She was beheaded on 13 February 1542, only nineteen or twenty years old.

The Lady Mary after Queen
1796 pink some foxing.  Lines:15 3/4 x 11 Plate: 17 3/8 x 12 3/8"   no matte, white- wood Frame: 21 1/2 x 15 3/4"
Ref.SB4 (161) /DVL/ s.andv> RVL  PRICE CODE B

The sitter is traditionally identified as the future Queen Mary I. (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558) was the Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death. Mary is best known for her aggressive and bloody pursuit of the restoration of Roman Catholicism in England and Ireland in an attempt to reverse the English Reformation which had begun during the reign of her father, Henry VIII.

Mary was the only child of Henry VIII by his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to survive to adulthood.

Mary Queen of Scots widow of Francis II

n/d white. Lines: 12 x 8 1/2" Plate: not visible. White-wood Frame: 19 3/4 x 14 1/2" 
Ref. SB14  (161) /DVL/ s.andv> RVL  PRICE CODE B

 
Mary Stuart, known to history as Mary, queen of Scots, was one of the most fascinating and controversial monarchs of 16th century Europe. At one time, she claimed the crowns of four nations - Scotland, France, England and Ireland. Her physical beauty and kind heart were acknowledged even by her enemies, yet she lacked the political skills to rule successfully in Scotland. Her second marriage was unpopular and ended in murder and scandal; her third was even less popular and ended in forced abdication in favor of her infant son. She fled to England in 1568, hoping for the help of her cousin, Elizabeth I. Her presence was dangerous for the English queen, who feared Catholic plotting on Mary's behalf. Mary never met her cousin and remained imprisoned for the next nineteen years. She was executed in 1587, only forty-four years old. By orders of the English government, all of her possessions were burned. In 1603, upon Elizabeth's death, Mary's son became king of England as James I.

John Russell Lord Privy Seal
 J. Russell Ld Privy Seale [sic]- with one ey [sic]
1796. white.  Lines: 14 3/4 x 11 1/8 Plate: 16 1/2 x 12 1/2" double matted white-wood Frame: 22 1/2 x 17 3/4"
Ref. SB1 (161) /DVL/ s.andv> RVL    PRICE CODE B

He lost his eye during the Siege of Morlaix in 1522. In 1532, he attended Henry VIII at his interview with Francis the First (Field of the cloth of Gold’); On the twenty-ninth of March,1538, he was created Baron Russell and elected a Knight of the Garter. In 1542, he was constituted Lord Admiral, and soon after, Lieutenant of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, and Somerset, where his newly acquired estates were chiefly situated. In the following year, he was made Lord Privy Seal. He did not long survive the accession of Mary.

The Lady Meutas
1795 pink  Lines: 11 1/4 x 8 Plate: 13 x 9 3/4"   double matted, white-wood Frame: 19 x 15"
Ref. SB3 (161) /DVL/ s.andv> RVL   PRICE CODE B

Joan or Jane Astley (d. 1577) was the sister of London mercer John Astley. She married the courtier Peter Meutas, who, like Holbein, was involved in Henry VIII’s embassies to scout for potential brides.

Garwin Carow  knight
1796 Pink Lines: 11 1/4 x 8 5/8  Plate: not visible.    double matted white-wood Frame: 21 x 171/4"
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The sitter is Sir Gavin Carew (d. 1583) who became Sheriff of Cornwall, helped put down the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549, and was involved in the Devonshire insurrection of 1553, after which he was attainted but later pardoned. His second wife was Mary, Lady Guildford whom Holbein had drawn and painted on his first visit to England between 1526 and 1528.

 

John More, Sir Thomas More's son
1793 white. no colour sepia stipple Lines: 15 1/8 x 10 3/4 some creasing to LH side of image  Plate: not visible. double matted white-wood Fame: 24 3/8 x 18 1/2
Ref. SB11  (161) /DVL/ s.andv> RVL   PRICE CODE B

John More, aged 19, was the son of Thomas More. The drawing is one of the eight individual portrait studies for a group portrait of Thomas More's family preserved in the Royal Collection. Destroyed by fire at the Kremsier Castle (Czech republic) in 1752, its appearance is preserved in an annotated drawing by Holbein, now in Kunstmuseum Basel.

[Anne Cresacre] Unnamed Lady with wimple
1799 white. Lines:15 x 10 1/4" Plate: 17 x 12” double matted white-wood Fame:  23 1/2 x 18"
Ref. SB12  (161) /DVL/ s.andv> RVL  PRICE CODE B

Anne Cresacre, aged 15, was the ward of Thomas More later the wife of his son John More the Younger. The drawing is one of the eight individual portrait studies for a group portrait of Thomas More's family preserved in the Royal Collection. Destroyed by fire at the Kremsier Castle (Czech republic) in 1752.

  
Fitz Williams Earl of Southampton
1793 white. Lines: 9 7/8 x 7 1/2" Plate not visible. White-wood Frame: 19 x 15"
Ref. SB15  (161) /DVL/ s.andv> RVL   PRICE CODE B

William FitzWilliam, 1st Earl of Southampton, KG. (c.1490- 15 October 1542,) English courtier and soldier,was a part of Henry VIII's inner circle since before accession. He went on to serve as the Ambassador to France, appointed Treasurer of the Household in 1525, Lord High Admiral and Lord Privy Seal.

The Lady Heneghan
1796 white. sepia stipple. Lines: 12 1/8 x 8" Plate: 14 x 9 3/8 double matted white-wood Fame:  20 1/8 x 17 5/8"
Ref. SB10  (161) /DVL/ s.andv> RVL   PRICE CODE B

Mary, Lady Heveningham 1532-1543 was the first cousin of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII. The main editor of and a major contributor to the famous compilation of poetry known as Devonshire Manuscript, she was romantically linked with poets Thomas Clere, Thomas Wyatt, and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and she may also have been a mistress of Henry VIII.

Ormond
1797 pink. Lines: 15 1/2 x 11 1/4  Plate: not shown   double matted white- wood Frame: 24 3/4 x 18 3/4
 Ref. SB7(161) /DVL/ s.andv> RVL    PRICE CODE B

The sitter is James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond and 2nd. Earl of Ossory (1496 – 28 October 1546), known as The Lame, was the son of Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond and Margaret Fitzgerald, countess of Ormond. He was created, in 1535, Viscount Thurles, and was confirmed by Act of Parliament,6 November 1541, in the Earldom of Ormond, as 9th Earl with the pre-eminence of the original earls. In early 1522, it was proposed by King Henry VIII that he marry his cousin Anne Boleyn, who was the great-granddaughter of Thomas Butler 7th Earl of Ormond. This was to resolve a dispute her father Thomas Boleyn had with James' father Piers over the Ormond inheritance and title. His death by poisoning in London remains an unsolved mystery.

[Cicely Heron]
Unnamed lady 1795 white. Lines:15 x 10 3/4 Plate: not visible.   double matted white-wood Frame:  24 1/2 x 18 1/2"
Ref. SB6 (161) /DVL/ s.andv> RVL  PRICE CODE B

Cicely Heron, aged 20, was the daughter of Thomas More In 1525, she married Giles Heron, a ward of More. The drawing is one of the eight individual portrait studies for a group portrait of Thomas More's family preserved in the Royal Collection. Destroyed by fire at the Kremsier Castle (Czech republic) in 1752

 Th: Elliott Knight
1794 white Lines: 11 x 8  Plate: 13 1/8 x 13 3/8 no colour sepia stipple double matted white-wood Fame:  21 3/8 x 17  5/8"
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Th: Eliott Knight. Sir Thomas Elyot (c.1490-1546) was a writer and diplomat, and was well respected by his contemporaries in both fields. His most famous publication was The ‘Boke named the Governour’, a book of political instruction inspired by classical literature, which was first issued in 1531 and was reprinted a number of times. He also published a comprehensive Latin-English dictionary, and a popular guide to medicine. His work as ambassador to Charles V took him to the continent, where he visited the city of Nuremberg four years after Dürer’s death. Holbein’s portrait was probably made after Elyot returned from this embassy, on which he had been replaced as ambassador by Thomas Cranmer. Holbein has shown Elyot dressed in a cap and gown with a fur collar, over which he wears a cross on a long chain. The work was a pendant to Holbein’s drawing of Sir Thomas’s wife Margaret.

The Lady Hobbie/ Hobby
1793 white, some discolouration. no matt. Lines: 11 3/8 x 7 3/4" Plate: 13 1/2 x 10" white-wood Frame: 23 1/4 x 18"
Ref. SB13  (161) /DVL/ s.andv> RVL   PRICE CODE B

Elizabeth, Lady Hoby was a member of Queen Catherine Parr’s circle circle. She was the daughter of Sir Walter Stonor, the Lieutenant of the Tower of London, and the wife of Sir Philip Hoby, the ambassador to the Holy Roman Empire and Flanders.

Unnamed Lady with hat
1799 white. Lines: 14 7/8 x 9 1/2"  Plate: not shown. double matted white-wood Frame: 24 3/8 x 18 3/8"
Ref. SB9  (161) /DVL/ s.andv> RVL  PRICE CODE B

The identity of the sitter is unknown.