Lord Arundel's Collections

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Anne Cresacre
ca. 1527
drawing
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Royal Collection, Windsor

"In two respects, however, London collections were outstanding in Europe during the first half of the seventeenth century, and this was entirely the result of Lord Arundel's very idiosyncratic tastes. 'Old Master drawings' had been collected well before his birth, of course, but, with rather rare exceptions, they tended to be acquired by artists or by writers on artists (Giorgio Vasari fell into both categories) or by connoisseurs of somewhat limited means.  Arundel was among the earlier princely collectors in Europe, and certainly the earliest in England, to amass drawings on a major scale.  In 1632 his son claimed that 'he chiefly affects drawings,' and it seems probable that nine years later, when the Civil War broke out, his was the greatest collection of drawings in Europe.  Arundel was as proud of his drawings as he was of his ancient inscriptions.  He was delighted to show them to visitors, and he had many of them engraved – not only finished works but also rapid sketches.  From these and other sources it becomes clear that among his many thousands of drawings the ones he cherished most were by Leonardo and Parmigianino: he had reason to be satisfied because he owned, among much else, a volume containing six hundred drawings by Leonardo.  It was, however, the quantity and quality of Arundel's drawings and paintings by Holbein that would probably have astonished foreign visitors to English collections more than anything else."   

 – Francis Haskell, The King's Pictures (Yale University Press, 2013)

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Charles de Solier, Sieur de Morette
(French Ambassador to England)
ca. 1534-35
drawing
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden

Wenceslaus Hollar after Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Charles de Solier, Sieur de Morette
1647
etching
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Mary Wotton, Lady Guildford
1527
oil on panel
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Saint Louis Art Museum

Wenceslaus Hollar after Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Mary Wotton, Lady Guildford
1647
etching
Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
ca. 1542
oil on panel 
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil

Wenceslaus Hollar after Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
ca. 1640-50
etching
Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Dr John Chambers
(physician to Henry VIII)
1543
oil on panel
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Wenceslaus Hollar after Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Dr John Chambers
1648
etching
Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan
1538
oil on panel
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
National Gallery, London

Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Derich Born
1533
oil on panel
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Royal Collection, Great Britain 

Wenceslaus Hollar after Leonardo da Vinci
Heads of Two Women
ca. 1645
etching
(after separate drawings in the Arundel Collection)
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Ancient Roman Culture
Standing Woman
1st century BC (head)
2nd century AD (body)
early 17th century (elements combined) 
marble
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Ancient Roman Culture
Togatus Figure
2nd century AD
(head and arms are 17th-century additions)
marble
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Cornelis Schut
Allegory on the Death of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel
1646
drawing
(print-study, directed by Lady Arundel)
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Wenceslaus Hollar after Cornelis Schut
Allegory on the Death of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel
1646
etching
(design directed by Lady Arundel)
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Ancient Roman Culture
Sleeping Eros
2nd century AD, with modern additions
marble
(formerly in the Arundel Collection)
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford