LOT DETAILS

Materials:

oil on oak panel

Measurements:

35.83 in. (91.00 cm.) (height) by 25.20 in. (64.00 cm.) (width)

Exhibited:

Manchester, City Art Gallery, Art Treasures, 1857, no. 471 (as by Holbein); London, South Kensington Museum, National Portrait Exhibition, 1866, no. 99; London, New Gallery, 1890, no. 126.

Literature:

Anon., 'Pictures and Articles of Curiosity', in Inventory of the Contents of Warwick Castle, (Warwickshire Record Office CR1886/466), Ms., circa 1800, n.p. (listed hanging in the passage in the private apartments of the Castle); Recorded in the notebook of the picture restorer Robert Brown, under the date 20 June 1801, at the end of a list of payments received from the Earl of Warwick - 'Remains to buying the Portrait of King Henry by Holbein - £1', V&A National Art Library, MSL/1993/3/1, p. 10; W. Field, An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Town & Castle of Warwick and of the neighbouring Spa of Leamington, Warwick 1815, p. 220 (listed hanging in the passage in the private apartments of the Castle); S. Woodburne, Notes on the Paintings at Warwick Castle, (Warwickshire Record Office CR1886/783/12), Ms., 1832, no. 15 (listed hanging in the Library - ‘A very fine Picture I think by H Holbein and fine of him’); G. F. Waagen, Works of Art and Artists in England, 3 vols, London 1838, vol. III, p. 206 (where he refers to the picture formerly at Castle Howard as 'an old copy of the picture at Warwick Castle'); C. W. Spicer, Vitruvius Britannicus. History of Warwick Castle, London 1844, p. 35 (listed hanging in Lady Warwick’s Boudoir); H. T. Cooke, An Historical and Descriptive Guide to Warwick Castle…, Warwick 1847, pp. 60-61 (listed hanging over the mantel-piece in Lady Warwick’s Boudoir); Cooper’s, History of Warwick and Guide to the Castle, illustrated, 1850, pp. 90-91, (listed hanging in the Countess of Warwick’s Boudoir); W. Kendall, Inventory of Warwick Castle, (Warwickshire Record Office CR1886/783/16), Ms., 1853, (listed hanging in the End Room); G. F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, 3 vols, London 1854, vol. III, p. 215 (seen in situ at the Castle on his visit in 1835, as ‘Holbein - King Henry VIII. To the knees, the size of life; full front… a masterpiece of Holbein); Anon, Inventory of Warwick Castle, (Warwickshire Record Office CR1886/703), Ms., circa 1870, (listed hanging in the Boudoir); A. Woltmann, Holbein und seine Zeit des Kunstlers Familie, Leben und Schaffen, 2 vols, 2nd revised ed., Leipzig 1874-76, vol. II, p. 21; Anon., ‘Henry VIII’, in The Magazine of Art, XVIII, 1895, pp. 212-13, reproduced; F. E. Warwick, ‘Warwick Castle’, in The Pall Mall Magazine, vol. XI, January-April 1898, p. 37 (listed hanging in the Boudoir); Anon., Inventory of the contents of Warwick Castle, (Warwickshire Record Office CR1886/703), Ms., 1900 (listed hanging in the State Boudoir); The Countess of Warwick, Warwick Castle & its Earls from Saxon times to the present day, 1903, p. 808; A. B. Chamberlain, Hans Holbein the Younger, 2 vols, London 1913, vol. II, pp. 101-02; ‘Warwick Castle, Warwickshire. The seat of the Earl of Warwick - II’, in Country Life, June 1914, p. 844, illustrated hanging in the Little Boudoir; Illustrated London News, 14 October 1933, reproduced; P. Ganz, 'Henry VIII and His Court Painter, Hans Holbein', in The Burlington Magazine, vol. LXIII, no. 368, November 1933, p. 134; H. A. Schmid, ‘Ein zweites, besseres ‘neuentdecktes’ Bildnis Heinrichs VIII’, in National-Zeitung, DX, 2 November 1933; P. Ganz, 'The Castle Howard Portrait of Henry VIII', in The Burlington Magazine, vol. LXIV, no. 371, February 1934, pp. 85-86, reproduced pls I & II; H. A. Schmid, ‘Kann man die Urheberschaft Holbeins den Jüngeren nur auf Grund von Photographien Ablehnen?’, in Jahrbuch der Preuszischen Kunstsammlungen, LV, 1934, pp. 126-38, reproduced p. 130, p. 135 (detail) and p. 137 (detail); H. Kuhn, ‘Heinrich VIII - Howard or Warwick, that is the Question’, in Das Werk, LXIV, 1934, pp. 221-24; P. Ganz, The Paintings of Hans Holbein, London 1956, p. 254; R. Strong, Tudor and Jacobean Portraits, 2 vols, London 1969, vol. I, p. 159; E. Michael, Hans Holbein the Younger. A Guide to Research, New York and Abingdon 1977, pp. 78-79; R. Salvini and H. W. Grohn, L'Opera Completa di Holbein, Milan 1971, p. 109; D. Schaff, ‘The Manchester Portrait of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger’, in Art International, XXIII, 1979/80, pp. 44-57; J. Rowlands, Holbein. The paintings of Hans Holbein the Younger, Oxford 1985, p. 236, no. R.37(b), reproduced pl. 245.

Provenance:

Possibly acquired in 1801 by George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick (1746-1816), and first recorded in the collection at Warwick Castle in 1815; Thence by descent to David Greville, 8th Earl of Warwick (1934-96); From whom acquired in situ; Thence to the present owner.