Panel Painting Henry VIII (pale green background)
Object number
LDSAL333
Artist/Designer/Maker
Unknown artist
Production date
16th century
Material
oak
oil paint
oil paint
Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
height: 480mm
width: 350mm
width: 350mm
Location
Burlington House - (on display)
References
Reference (free text)
David Gaimster, Sarah McCarthy, and Bernard Nurse, eds., Making History, Antiquaries in Britain, 1707-2007 (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2007), p. 91, no. 55.Illustration, p. 91.
Oil on oak panel portrait of Henry VIII with pale green background.
Late 1530s; the panel came from a tree grown in south-east England (possibly London or East Anglia), cut down between 1507 and 1543.
This is the larger and earlier of the two portraits that the Society holds and may have been produced within Henry's lifetime, though not from a live sitting. Probably from a dispersed set of historical portraits, it shows an image of the king that was widely copied and may have been companion to a lost picture of one of Henry's wives.
Henry's costume in both of the Society's portraits is rather restrained by comparison with more familiar depictions. Although conspicuous luxury was was officially frowned upon for ordinary citizens in early Tudor England, it was considered essential for the monarch to present a public image that was distinctive and magnificent. Yet in this portrait the king's appearance is almost informal.
This is the larger and earlier of the two portraits that the Society holds and may have been produced within Henry's lifetime, though not from a live sitting. Probably from a dispersed set of historical portraits, it shows an image of the king that was widely copied and may have been companion to a lost picture of one of Henry's wives.
Henry's costume in both of the Society's portraits is rather restrained by comparison with more familiar depictions. Although conspicuous luxury was was officially frowned upon for ordinary citizens in early Tudor England, it was considered essential for the monarch to present a public image that was distinctive and magnificent. Yet in this portrait the king's appearance is almost informal.