-
1 of 253523 objects
Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/8-1543)
William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury 1527
Black and coloured chalks | 40.7 x 30.9 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 912272
Pennethorne Gallery, The King's Gallery, Buckingham Palace
-
A portrait drawing of William Warham (c.1450-1532), Archbishop of Canterbury. He is shown bust length facing three-quarters to the left, wearing a hat and fur collar. The drawing is entirely in black and coloured chalks. This is a study for the painting in the Louvre.
An eighteenth-century inscription (a copy of a sixteenth-century original) at top left identifies the sitter as 'Waramus Arch BP Cant:'
William Warham was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Henry VII in 1503, after a career as a diplomat; from 1504 to 1515 he was also Lord Chancellor. The accession of Henry VIII in 1509 and his preferment of Thomas Wolsey brought Warham and Wolsey into frequent conflict over matters of ecclesiastical authority. None the less the two of them began proceedings for the annulment of Henry VIII's marriage to Katherine of Aragon, and after Wolsey's fall from power in 1529 Warham assumed sole responsibility for pursuing the matter. His reluctance was apparent, and shortly before his death in August 1532 he voiced his clear opposition.
Warham was a friend and patron of Erasmus, and in 1524 Erasmus sent him as a gift his portrait by Holbein, probably the painting dated 1523 in the collection of the Earl of Radnor. On Holbein's arrival in England, Warham returned the compliment, and the present drawing is Holbein's full-scale study for the painting sent to Erasmus. That painting seems not to have survived, though a version in the Louvre is probably an autograph replica made for Warham himself. The fine version at Lambeth Palace is a later sixteenth-century copy.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
-
Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
-
Medium and techniques
Black and coloured chalks
Measurements
40.7 x 30.9 cm (sheet of paper)
Markings
watermark: Briquet 1827: fleur de lys in crowned shield [same as 12268,12266]
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
RL 12272
