Lord Arundel's Collections

Lucas Vorsterman the Elder after Anthony van Dyck
Portrait of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel
ca. 1625
etching and engraving
Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Sir Richard Southwell
1536
drawing
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Royal Collection, Windsor

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Sir Richard Southwell
1536
oil on panel
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Cosimo II Grand Duke of Tuscany wrote a letter to Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel.  The Medici Grand Duke wrote as art collector to art collector but also as a sovereign addressing a person of less than royal rank.  Knowing Arundel's reputation as the world authority on the art of Holbein and as the foremost Holbein collector, the Grand Duke requested the gift of a Holbein.  Arundel promptly responded by sending the painted portrait of Sir Richard Southwell to Florence.  It is, like all Holbeins, beautifully painted, but the subject's physiognomy is less than alluring and Southwell's posthumous reputation was rather nasty – he had been one of Henry VIII's least scrupulous hit-men and had in fact persecuted certain of Arundel's ancestors.  The great Holbein collector might well have regarded Southwell's portrait as relatively expendable, compared to other Holbeins.  And then there was the fact that Arundel also owned Holbein's preparatory drawing for this picture – which he retained.   

In return, Cosimo sent Arundel an exquisite tabletop altarpiece incorporating six small paintings by another of Arundel's favorite painters, Adam Elsheimer.   

Adam Elsheimer
Exaltation of the True Cross
ca. 1603-1605
oil on copper framed in ebony and giltwood
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Adam Elsheimer
Temple in Courtyard
(study for The Pool of Bethesda)
before 1610
drawing
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Wenceslaus Hollar after Adam Elsheimer
Temple in Courtyard
(study for The Pool of Bethesda)
ca. 1640-50
etching
Royal Collection, Windsor

follower of Hans Holbein the Younger
Design for Lidded Bowl
ca. 1550
drawing
(formerly in the Arundel Collection as by Holbein)
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Wenceslaus Hollar after Hans Holbein the Younger
Design for Lidded Bowl
1645
etching
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Parmigianino (Francesco Mazzola)
Woman carrying a vessel
ca. 1535-40
drawing
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Princeton University Art Museum

Wenceslaus Hollar after Parmigianino
Woman carrying a Vessel
1645
etching
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Perino del Vaga (Pietro Buonaccorsi)
Study for Holy Family
before 1547
drawing
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Perino del Vaga (Pietro Buonaccorsi)
Scene from Classical Legend
ca. 1520
drawing
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
British Museum

Giulio Romano
Cephalus mourning Procris
ca. 1530
drawing
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Luca Cambiaso
Apollo and Marsyas
ca. 1545
drawing
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Minneapolis Institute of Art

Giulio Campi
Virgin and Child enthroned with Saints and Donor
(study for altarpiece)
ca. 1530
drawing
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
British Museum

Lucas Vorsterman the Elder after Raphael
The Entombment
1628
etching and engraving
(after a drawing formerly in the Arundel Collection, now lost)
Royal Collection, Windsor

Anthony van Dyck
Study for The Entombment
ca. 1617-18
drawing
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Getty Museum, Los Angeles