“He’s a genius – all the information is in his paintings.” – Joanna Eatwell, Costume Designer, Wolf Hall
I had written about the authenticity of the costumes in Wolf Hall as well as how much the series’ brilliant costume designer Joanna Eatwell values Hans Holbein the Younger’s work in achieving this authenticity here back in 2015.
It turns out that Eatwell digged into the paintings of Holbein for research. From Lucy Worsley’s interview with Eatwell in 2015:
He’s a genius – all the information is in his paintings.
He not only painted members of the court, he also painted merchants and even some of Henry’s courtiers and staff, so we have a complete cross-section which is incredibly important for a piece like this.
Eatwell argues, in an audio interview with the BBC Academy, Holbein is a “master in his craft” and his paintings are realistic but also propaganda. The paintings make a statement about the person in the painting which she calls the “photoshop” of the times.
We meet Hans Holbein the Younger as a character in Wolf Hall Episode 4 The Devil’s Spit when he paints Thomas Cromwell as the Master of the Jewel House. Thomas Arnold brings the King’s painter to life in Wolf Hall.
And when I talk about Cromwell’s portrait, I also have to talk about the portrait Holbein painted of Sir Thomas More in 1527 when More was a powerful member of the English Parliament…
…especially because these two famous Holbein paintings are in the permanent collection at The Frick Collection in New York City. Here’s the legendary face-off between More and Cromwell 🙂
Hans Holbein the younger came to England in 1526 in search of work. He had a strong recommendation from with a recommendation from Erasmus. Holbein gained his good reputation as a painter in the humanist circles of Thomas More. After returning to Basel for four years, he resumed his career in England in 1532 under the patronage of Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell. He became the King’s Painter in the court of Henry VIII in 1535, the year Thomas More was beheaded. As the King’s Painter, Holbein produced portraits of the royal family as well as of nobles that became historical records of the court. He retained his position in the court of Henry VIII after Anne Boleyn, one of his main patrons, was executed.
In Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light, we meet Holbein again in Thomas Cromwell’s home Austin Friars in Episode 2 Obedience. Cromwell commissions Holbein to paint the past Kings of England on his walls. And he also asks the artist to make a ring for Mary based on his own design. Holbein making a ring for Lady Mary on behalf of Cromwell may not be historically true but it is definitely plausible since Holbein is known to have designed jewelry, plates and other precious objects. And while only few jewels that Holbein today survive, British Museum has a lot of his jewelry drawings.
And some of these jewelry in Holbein’s paintings may have been designed by the master himself!
We see Cromwell’s daughter Jenneke checking out the former Kings of England in her father’s study in Episode 3 Defiance. She wants to know why Cromwell had all those dead Princes of England painted on his wall.
“As a reminder that men become dust but the realm is continued.”
Regarding the ring, Holbein hesitates and advises that a pendant would work better since a ring means a promise. However, Cromwell goes ahead and has the ring made. Then he shows the ring with “In Praise of Obedience” inscribed on it to the King. Henry likes it so much that he will give it to his daughter himself. Cromwell can find something else to give her, can’t he? 🙂
One of the most important portraits Holbein did in the court if Henry VIII is the mural of the King, with his father, mother (dead for a long time then) and Jane Seymour in 1537 on a wall in WhiteHall Palace. In Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light Episode 3 Defiance, we see Holbein having both Jane Seymour and Henry VIII separately pose for him as preparation for this glorious wall mural.
An article about Holbein’s work in The Guardian points out that the mural was destroyed in 1698 in the fire that consumed most of the palace; however, it is still perceived to be one of the most influential and enduring royal image in British history.
“As soon as it was finished, it was copied, imitated, quoted – by Holbein himself, among others; an instant icon. And Henry VIII is remembered, still, as he has been for five centuries, as a huge, hearty man, chest broad as a wall, his legs arrogantly apart and his elbows flaunting his right to push everyone aside.”
The mural is complete, huge and glorious in Episode 4 Jenneke. Holbein whispers to Cromwell that Henry looks like he will jump out of the mural and crush the viewer.
Henry’s vanity shows as he appreciates his own magnificence on the wall. And the King must appreciate his frightening look so much that he wishes that other Kings of Europe could see it 🙂
Henry: “I wish the King of France could see this. Or the Emperor. And the King of Scots.”
Holbein: There can be copies, Majesty.”
And here is the copy of the original White Hall mural commissioned by the King Charles II in 1667.
The next two stories and paintings get mentions in the book but not in the series but I would like to mention them since they take place within the timeline the series covers and they are both well-known Holbein painting.
Jane Seymour sadly passes away only two weeks after giving birth to Henry VIII’s much desired male heir. When Edward, the Prince of Wales, was fourteen months old, Holbein paints baby Edward looking like a King. The artist portrays the prince as some kind of divine infant in adult clothing. The way he holds himself is not that of a baby but of an adult. The young boy has a golden rattle in his left hand and raises his right in a gesture of blessing. Holbein gifts it to the King as an expression of his gratitude for his patronage.
Soon after Jane’s death, the search begins to find a new bride for Henry VIII. When it comes to choosing his new bride, Henry does not rely on his ambassadors’ word only. When the 16-year-old widow Christina of Denmark seems to be a viable candidate, the King wants to know how she looks like, and it falls on Holbein to travel and paint Christina as well as write detailed descriptions of her.
Henry likes what he sees; however, Christina is well aware of Henry’s favorite pastime of chopping heads, including that of his wife’s. And she is not willing to spare hers. Legend has it that, when asked if she would marry Henry VIII, Christina said, “If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England’s disposal.”Brilliant.
From Cromwell’s point of view, an arranged marriage is a political statement. As a staunch defender of the Reformation, he thinks that an alliance with a Protestant country through marriage is critical to make sure England does not return to Catholicism. That is why he looks into House of Cleves and chooses Anne of Cleves as a potential bride. Holbein meets Anne of Cleves in person at Rochester Abbey, paints her and presents the portrait to the King.
As Henry appreciates the painting in Episode 5 Mirror, he also has questions for Holbein who has met the lady and taken detailed notes about her. She is very pious, we learn. She does not know any other language but English. She never had a music teacher because ladies may lose their good name in Germany if they sing or dance. Oh, and she does ride, but she does not shoot.
Historical records tend to argue that Henry does not like the appearance of Anne of Cleves when he sees him in person and asks for the annulment of their marriage. Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light gives us an alternative and, in my opinion, a more plausible story that we hear from Gregory who arrives at Austin Friars in the middle of the night to ask his father how on earth he let the king ride to Rochester to meet his new bride in disguise! Oh yes after hearing high praise from Fitzwilliam who meets Anne of Cleves on Calais, the King is too impatient to meet her and decides to surprise her in a costume and nourish love. Whaaa? 🙂
It turns out that the young woman does not recognize Henry, because he is in a costume for God’s sake, and ignores him. She probably takes him as some old, obese man with a bad leg. And, when she has eventually realizes who he is, says Gregory:
“As Christ is my saviour, father, the look in her eye… I will never forget it. Nor, I think, will the King. She recoiled from him.
Even though they go ahead with the wedding ceremony, things go from bad to worse on their wedding night. Henry tells Cromwell that “I liked her before not well, but now I like her much worse.” The King is desperate to get out of this marriage which could not be consummated.
This makes, of course, the crescendo of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light. The King finds a scapegoat in Cromwell – Henry feels that Cromwell forced Anne of Cleves upon him. And he has already been involved with Catherine Howard. His marriage to Anne of Cleves is dissolved on ground of non-consummation. Henry marries Catherine Howard on the day Thomas Cromwell is executed! And even though Anne of Cleves has several months of an unhappy marriage to Henry, she has got a handsome settlement from him and her independence. She stayed friends with the King, too. She may be the luckiest of Henry’s wives!
Oh, and what about Holbein? He loses the King’s favor and never receives another royal commission on the scale of the Whitehall mural. But he keeps his head over his shoulders which I believe is an accomplishment on its own.
Franny Moyle, who wrote King’s Painter: The Life and Times of Hans Holbein argues that the fact that Holbein was able to survive the Anne of Cleves fiasco attests to how indispensable he was for Henry VIII. She talks about art as soft power, and how Francis I of France got cultural kudos throughout Europe when he secured Leonardo da Vinci as his court painter. England, at the time was still considered culturally inferior, but Holbein changed that.
“You’ve got to see Holbein’s tenure at the court in terms of Henry realising he’s got his Leonardo.”
No wonder Henry wants The Emperor, The King of France and The King of Scots to see the White Hall mural 🙂 And it is Hans Holbein the Younger who is the father of this unique image of Henry that remains as the definitive image of the King today.
