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File:Henry VIII and the Barber Surgeons, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg

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Summary

Artist
Hans Holbein the Younger  (1497/1498–1543)  wikidata:Q48319 s:it:Autore:Hans Holbein il Giovane q:it:Hans Holbein il Giovane
 
Hans Holbein the Younger
Alternative names
Hans Holbein der Jüngere, Hans Holbein
Description -German painter and drawer
Date of birth/death 1497 or 1498
date QS:P,+1497-00-00T00:00:00Z/8,P1319,+1497-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1498-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
between 7 October 1543 and 29 November 1543
date QS:P,+1543-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1319,+1543-10-07T00:00:00Z/11,P1326,+1543-11-29T00:00:00Z/11
Location of birth/death Augsburg Edit this at Wikidata London Edit this at Wikidata
Work location
Basel (1515-1526), Lucerne (1515-1526), Venice (1515), Bologna (1515), Florence (1515), Rome (1515), Venice (1517-1518), Bologna (1517-1518), Florence (1517-1518), Rome (1517-1518), London (1526-1528), Basel (1528-1532), London (1532-1543)
Authority file
artist QS:P170,Q48319
(cartoon) overpainted in oils and altered by another artist or artists unknown and at an unknown date
Title
Henry VIII and the Barber Surgeons

Holbein prepared this cartoon for a large-scale work to commemorate the grant of a royal charter to the Company of Barbers and the Guild of Surgeons on their merger in 1540. Presumably at the request of his clients, Holbein based the design on that of the miniatures painted on Tudor charters of privileges. Working from an old sketch, Holbein portrayed King Henry, who did not sit for him on this occasion, more as an icon than as a living person[1]

The members of the company, in contrast, were conceived as individuals.
Description
English:
John Chambers
John Chambers
Sir William Butts
Sir William Butts

On the King’s right side are his two physicians, Dr. John Chambers and Sir William Butts and his apothecary Thomas Alsop.
The figures of Sir William Butts and the doctor John Chambers are closely related to portraits of them by Holbein (left), though the overpainting has made this less clear (art historian John Rowlands reproduces an infra-red photograph of the underdrawing).

Thomas Vicary, Anatomist
Thomas Vicary, Anatomist


On the King’s left side are his Serjeant-Surgeon, Thomas Vicary (Master 1530, 1541, 1546, 1548, 1557); (in the final version:his surgeons, Sir John Ayliffe (Master 1538), James Monforde (Warden 1540, 1543) and Richard Ferris (Master 1551, 1562) and his barbers, Nicholas Simpson (Master 1537), Edmund Harman (Master 1540), and John Penn (Master 1539). Others portrayed and named are Nicholas Alcock, Christopher Salmon (Master 1552) and William Tilley (Warden 1540, 1546)).

Beneath the overpainting and additions (such as the windows) by later hands, this cartoon reveals Holbein's original conception for the final work.
The painting itself, however, departs markedly from it in places, for example in the second row of figures on the right and in the background.[2] It was for a long time believed that this version was a copy, but X-rays have revealed that, under the paint, the paper is pricked all over, following the outlines of the composition. This shows that it was used to mark up the original version of the painting.[3]
Date circa 1543
date QS:P571,+1543-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902
Medium oil on paper mounted on canvas
Dimensions height: 160 cm (62.9 in); width: 280 cm (110.2 in)
dimensions QS:P2048,160U174728
dimensions QS:P2049,280U174728
Object history The surgeons, who retained ownership of the painting, bought the cartoon in 1786 from a French art dealer.[4]
References Pascal Griener,Oskar Bätschmann: Hans Holbein: Revised and Expanded Second Edition, p.31
B. Cohen: King Henry 8th and the barber surgeons. The story of the Holbein cartoon.
Source/Photographer Stephanie Buck, Hans Holbein, Cologne: Könemann, 1999, ISBN 3829025831.
Other versions


References

  1. Stephanie Buck, Hans Holbein, Cologne: Könemann, 1999, ISBN 3829025831, 128.
  2. Derek Wilson, Hans Holbein: Portrait of an Unknown Man, London: Pimlico, 2006, ISBN 1844139182, 273.
  3. Rowlands, John, Holbein: The Paintings of Hans Holbein the Younger, Boston: David R. Godine, 1985, ISBN 0879235780, 148–49.
  4. Buck, 129.

Licensing

This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
Public domain

This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer.


This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1929.

This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".
This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details.

File history

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Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current18:27, 7 February 2009Thumbnail for version as of 18:27, 7 February 20092,655 × 1,545 (1.94 MB)Qp10qp{{Information |Description={{en|1=''Henry VIII and the Barber Surgeons''. Oil on paper mounted on canvas, 160 × 280 cm, Royal College of Surgeons of England, London.}} |Source=Stephanie Buck, ''Hans Holbein'', Cologne: Könemann, 1999, ISBN 3829025831. |
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