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1 of 253523 objects
Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/8-1543)
Lady Ratcliffe c. 1536
Black and coloured chalks with black and brown ink and metalpoint on pink prepared paper | 30.1 x 20.3 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 912236
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A portrait drawing of Lady Ratcliffe. She is shown half length facing to the front. The drawing is largely in black and yellow chalks, with details of the head worked up in ink. There are studies of decorative details in chalk and metalpoint to the left of the sitter's cheek.
Inscribed with colour and textile notes in Holbein's hand: damast black (black damask), and schwarz felbat (black velvet). An eighteenth-century inscription (a copy of a sixteenth-century original) at upper left identifies the sitter as 'The Lady Ratclif.'
Despite the inscription on the drawing, the identity of the sitter is unclear, as a number of women held the title 'Lady Ratcliffe'. The drawing dates from the mid-1530s, when it was the fashion for women to pin up one side of their hoods.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 black and brown ink and metalpoint on pink prepared paper
Measurements
30.1 x 20.3 cm (sheet of paper)
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
RL 12236
