The exhibition Holbein at the Tudor Court recently opened at Buckingham Palace’s Queen’s Gallery and includes some of the greatest works by famed Tudor court artist Hans Holbein the Younger, alongside paintings by his contemporaries. Holbein was a German artist who spent two long periods in London, and it is his records of the world of Henry VIII which have shaped the Tudor court in popular culture.

The exhibition displays 100 works, including paintings, drawings, portrait miniatures and book illustrations. On view are forty delicate portrait chalk drawings by the artist, which are only rarely shown due to their fragile state. Holbein’s skill as a portraitist has long-since been recognised. Kate Heard, the exhibition’s curator, spoke enthusiastically about the artist: “his exquisite drawings and painting were made using techniques he had learned as an apprentice, but his impressive skill with these traditional materials saw him celebrated by contemporaries, as he is still celebrated today.”

A newly restored painting is also included, Holbein’s portrait of Derich Born (1533). Conservation work done on the painting reveals that the artist made small amendments to the sitter’s facial features with successive layers of paint, making his cheekbones appear more chiselled with each layer. Nicola Christie, head of conservation at the Royal Collection Trust, worked with the Getty Conservation Institute on the conservation of the portrait. She said that technical imaging allowed researchers “to study Holbein’s underdrawing in closer detail than ever before, and revealed the different weight and quality of each line refining the contour of Derich Born’s face.” She explained that “we can clearly see that Holbein continued to perfect the cheek and jawline in the two layers of azurite blue background until he – and perhaps Derich too – was finally satisfied with the likeness. The slightly chubby youth in the X-ray image emerges as the chisel-jawed young man in the painting.” 

Reviews of the exhibition have been hugely positive, demonstrating the enduring appeal of this sixteenth-century German artist. Waldemar Januszczak, writing for The Times, commented that the exhibition “brings the Tudor court to life more vividly than the entire bookshelf of Hilary Mantel”. Mantel’s popular trilogy which starts with Wolf Hall (2009) documents the court of Henry VIII and was extremely popular. Januszczak also commented on Holbein’s achievements as a portraitist: “producing portraits that appear as present as Holbein’s do – so alive you would recognise them instantly if you met them in the street – while working with coloured chalks and occasional ink highlights is a measure of artistic greatness that very few have passed.” 

Jonathan Jones wrote equally positively for The Guardian, describing Holbein’s portraits as having “the objectivity of photographs.” Holbein at the Tudor Court will be open at the Queen’s Gallery until 14^th April 2024.