Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey

Overview
Tudor and Jacobean Portraits Database

after William Scrots
oil on panel, circa 1570-1580s, based on a work of 1546
18 7/8 in. x 11 7/8 in. (480 mm x 301 mm)
Purchased, 1973
Primary Collection
NPG 4952

Sitterback to top

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517?-1547), Poet. Sitter associated with 23 portraits.

Artistback to top

William Scrots (active 1537-1553), Painter. Artist associated with 7 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This panel may have been cut down from a larger work and, when it was acquired by the Gallery in 1973, spliced down the middle. It shows Surrey with eyes that are quizzical and intelligent. The handling of the paint in this portrait suggests that the artist was directly copying another work, possibly a portrait by Guillim Scrots that is now lost.

Linked publicationsback to top

Smartify image discovery app
100 Writers, p. 18
Pointon, Marcia, Hanging the head : portraiture and social formation in eighteenth-¿century England, 1993, p. 24 number 34
Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery: An Illustrated Guide, 2000, p. 36
Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery, 1997, p. 36 Read entry
The Earl of Surrey was a scholar and a poet, translator of the Aeneid and author of verses in imitation of Petrarch. This panel, perhaps cut down from a larger work and, when it was acquired by the Gallery in 1973, spliced down the middle, shows him with eyes that are quizzical and intelligent.
Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 598

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1546back to top

Current affairs

The Treaty of Ardres ends England's war with France and Scotland. Francis I of France agrees to pay a large pension to King Henry VIII and his successors.
Henry VIII becomes seriously ill.

Art and science

The Dutch artist William Scrots paints Princess Edward (later King Edward VI) using an unusual and virtuoso technique of distorted perspective (anamorphosis).
King Henry VIII founds Trinity College, Cambridge.

International

The German Protestant reformer Martin Luther dies while attempting to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the mounting tension between German Protestant and Catholic factions. The Schmalkaldic League of Protestant princes prepares for war against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

Tell us more back to top

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