Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel, 4th Earl of Surrey and 1st Earl of Norfolk
2 of 67 portraits of Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel, 4th Earl of Surrey and 1st Earl of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel, 4th Earl of Surrey and 1st Earl of Norfolk
by Sir Peter Paul Rubens
oil on canvas, 1629
27 in. x 21 in. (686 mm x 533 mm)
Purchased, 1929
Primary Collection
NPG 2391
Click on the links below to find out more:
Sitterback to top
- Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel, 4th Earl of Surrey and 1st Earl of Norfolk (1585-1646), Patron of art and collector. Sitter associated with 67 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Painter. Artist associated with 39 portraits, Sitter associated with 13 portraits.
This portraitback to top
This magnificent portrait of the Earl of Arundel shows him not only as a connoisseur - he acquired one of the most important seventeenth-centyry collections of painting and sculpture -but also with a certain braggadocio, as befitted his status as Earl Marshal. It was painted in 1629, when Rubens came to London as an emissary of Philip IV of Spain and was a study for a larger three-quarter length portrait of him (now in the Isabella Stewart gardner Museum, Boston). As a sketch it has an exceptional liveliness in its characterisation of a man with a worldly and perhaps slightly cynical mind.
Related worksback to top
- NPG D19370: Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel, 4th Earl of Surrey and 1st Earl of Norfolk (after)
- NPG D17391: Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel, 4th Earl of Surrey and 1st Earl of Norfolk ()
Linked publicationsback to top
- Audio Guide
- Cooper, John, Visitor's Guide, 2000, p. 31
- John Cooper, National Portrait Gallery Visitor's Guide, 2006, p. 31
- MacLeod, Catharine (preface, appreciation) Wilks, Timothy (introduction) Smuts, Malcolm (appreciation) MacGibbon, Rab (appendix), The Lost Prince: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart, 2012 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 18 October 2012 to 13 January 2013), p. 122
- Piper, David, The English Face, 1992, p. 72
- Piper, David, Catalogue of Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery, 1625-1714, 1963, p. 15
- Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery: An Illustrated Guide, 2000, p. 55
- Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery, 1997, p. 55
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 19
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- The Lost Prince: The Life & Death of Henry Stuart (18 October 2012 - 13 January 2013)
Related pages
Thematic collections
See this portrait
On display in Room 5 at the National Portrait Gallery



