Lord Arundel's Collections

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of King Henry VIII
ca. 1537
oil on panel
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Wenceslaus Hollar after Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of King Henry VIII
1647
etching
(copied from a painting in the Arundel Collection)
Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1532-43
drawing
(formerly in the Arundel Collection, where
incorrectly identified as Catherine of Aragon)
Royal Collection, Windsor

Wenceslaus Hollar after Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of a Woman
1647
etching
(copied from a drawing in the Arundel Collection
and incorrectly identified as Catherine of Aragon)
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Princess Mary, later Queen
ca. 1536
drawing
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Royal Collection, Windsor

Wenceslaus Hollar after Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Princess Mary, later Queen
1647
etching-
(copied from a drawing in the Arundel Collection)
Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Anne Boleyn as Queen
ca. 1533-36
drawing
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Royal Collection, Windsor

The Anne Boleyn drawing above is an authentic likeness, made from life.  The Anne Boleyn etching below was copied from a different drawing, possibly now lost.  It was believed in its day to represent Anne Boleyn, but this was one among many wishful attributions that have been discredited.  

Wenceslaus Hollar after Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of a Woman
(incorrectly identified as Anne Boleyn)
1649
etching
(copied from a drawing in the Arundel Collection)
British Museum

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Jane Seymour as Queen
ca. 1536-37
oil on panel
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Wenceslaus Hollar after Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Jane Seymour as Queen
1648
etching
(copied from a painting in the Arundel Collection)
Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Edward, Prince of Wales
ca. 1538
oil on panel
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Wenceslaus Hollar after Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Edward, Prince of Wales
1650
etching
(copied from a painting in the Arundel Collection)
Royal Collection, Windsor

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Edward, Prince of Wales
ca. 1540-43
drawing
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Royal Collection, Windsor

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Anne of Cleves
1538
oil on panel
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Musée du Louvre

Wenceslaus Hollar after Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Anne of Cleves
1648
etching
(copied from a painting in the Arundel Collection)
Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg

Hans Holbein the Younger
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
(Solomon modeled on King Henry VIII)
ca. 1534
miniature in watercolor and gouache on vellum
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Royal Collection, Windsor

Wenceslaus Hollar after Hans Holbein the Younger
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
(Solomon modeled on King Henry VIII)
1642
etching
(copied from a painting in the Arundel Collection)
British Museum

Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel (1585-1646) consistently identified Hans Holbein the Younger (ca. 1497-1543) as his favorite artist.  Generally speaking, Holbein's work looked old-fashioned to early-baroque eyes and was not much coveted.  The Earl had two reasons for favoring it.  One was family piety – several of his direct ancestors had sat to Holbein.  Combined with that connection was a simple preference (otherwise absent at the Stuart court) for the arts and culture of the previous century under the Tudors.  Much evidence supports the view that Arundel saw himself as a Tudor holdover, marooned in a less congenial era.  

Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) was far and away the most prolific of the artists who entered Arundel's service or accepted his commissions.  The etchings reproduced above show Hollar working at Arundel House copying original Holbeins in the Earl's collection.  Of these there were certainly over a hundred, though the exact number of paintings and drawings can no longer be determined.  Hollar's prints served simultaneously to document the collection's contents and to spread its fame among other European potentates and connoisseurs.