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1 of 253523 objects
Frances, Countess of Surrey (1517-1577) c.1535-6
Black and coloured chalks with white heightening and touches of black ink on pink prepared paper | 31.0 x 21.0 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 912214
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A portrait drawing of Frances, Countess of Surrey (1517-1577) on pink prepared paper. She is shown half-length facing to the front. She wears an English hood with one lappet raised, and she has a yellow girdle around her waist. The drawing is almost entirely in black and coloured chalks with white heightening her eyes and tiny strokes of black ink to indicate her eyelashes.
The drawing is inscribed with colour and textile notes in Holbein's hand: on her dress he has written rosa felbet (pink velvet), felbet (velvet), schwarz (black) and perhaps also rot (red). An eighteenth-century inscription (a copy of a mid-sixteenth-century original) at top left identifies the sitter as 'The Lady Surry'.
Her dress has been inscribed by the artist: rosa felbet (pink velvet), flebet (velvet), schwarz (black) and (?) rot (red). Inscribed in an eighteenth-century hand at upper left: The Lady Surry.
Frances, Countess of Surrey was the wife of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and daughter of John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford. This portraitwas probably intended as a pair with one of her husband (RCIN 912215).Provenance
Henry VIII; Edward VI, 1547; Henry FitzAlan, 12th Earl of Arundel; by whom bequeathed to John, Lord Lumley, 1580; by whom probably bequeathed to Henry, Prince of Wales, 1609, and thus inherited by Prince Charles (later Charles I), 1612; by whom exchanged with Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, 1627/8; by whom given to Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel; acquired by Charles II by 1675
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Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Black and coloured chalks with white heightening and touches of black ink on pink prepared paper
Measurements
31.0 x 21.0 cm (sheet of paper)
Markings
watermark: close to Briquet 1457, watermark cut [same as 12256,12221,12260,12242]
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
RL 12214
