King Henry VIII
1 portrait on display at British Galleries, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
King Henry VIII
by Unknown Anglo-Netherlandish artist
oil on panel, circa 1535-1540
22 1/2 in. x 16 3/4 in. (572 mm x 425 mm)
Purchased, 1904
Primary Collection
NPG 1376
On display at British Galleries, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
This portraitback to top
This portrait of the king was probably produced by an English or Netherlandish artist working in England. The frame is original to the picture, although it has been repainted many times. Investigation of the paint layers indicates that the frame was quite brightly coloured originally, perhaps in imitation of marble or tortoiseshell.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Bolland, Charlotte; Cooper, Tarnya, The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered, 2014 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 12th September 2014 to 1st March 2015)
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 296
- Simon, Jacob, The Art of the Picture Frame: Artists, Patrons and the Framing of Portraits in Britain, 1997 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 8 November 1996 - 9 February 1997), p. 150
- Strong, Roy, Tudor and Jacobean Portraits, 1969, p. 156
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered (12 September 2014 - 1 March 2015)
- Double Take: versions and Copies of Tudor Portraits (25 June 2012 - 12 September 2012)
Events of 1535back to top
Current affairs
The former Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas More is beheaded for High Treason after refusing to recognise King Henry VIII's religious supremacy.The Bishop of Rochester John Fisher is executed on the same change.
Art and science
The German artist Hans Holbein the Younger paints King Henry VIII.International
The French navigator Jacques Cartier explores the sites that will become Quebec and Montreal. He names the territory Canada.Lima in present day Peru is founded by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro
The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V captures the city of Tunis in present-day Tunisia from the Ottoman admiral Khair ad-Din, called Barbarossa.
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See this portrait
On display at British Galleries, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Related pages
- Making History: Printed Portraiture in Tudor and Stuart Britain
- Director's Trail by Nicholas Cullinan
- Picturing History: A portrait set of early English kings and queens
- Henry VIII Remembered
- Kings and Queens: A Family tree
- Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Art Conservation Project
- Tudor pick up guides
- Henry VIII and versions of the non-Holbein portraits
- Duplicate of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Art Conservation Project
- Party Trail
- Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk
- The transmission of artistic conventions/visual vocabulary in Tudor portraits