George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham, c1538-39
Black and coloured chalks with a touch of black ink on pink prepared paper
A portrait drawing of George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham, on paper prepared with a pink ground. He is shown bust length, facing to the front. He is informally dressed and wears a cap with a badge and a chain around his neck. The drawing is almost entirely executed in black and coloured chalks. Holbein has concentrated on the sitter's face, which is carefully modelled in black and red chalks to delineate Cobham's high cheek bones and the depth of his eye sockets. The chalk in the hat may have been worked with a damp brush to suggest soft velvet. The drawing is on the same paper as that used by Holbein for his drawing of Charles Wingfield, and may be of a similar date.
George Brooke succeeded as Baron Cobham in 1529, inheriting his father's extensive lands. He pursued a military career in France and Scotland, and was noted for his bravery on the battlefield. From June 1544 he was Deputy of Calais, serving in that position during Henry VIII's siege of Boulogne and combining his military expertise with courteous diplomacy. He had a great interest in Italy, acting as patron to a number of Italian craftsmen who sought work at the Tudor court and sending his sons to be educated in Padua. His sister was the wife of Sir Thomas Wyatt, who also sat to Holbein in the 1530s.*
From the exhibition
Holbein at the Tudor Court
(November 2023 – April 2024)
Hans Holbein was one of the most talented artists of the 16th century. From his arrival in England in search of work he rose to royal favour, chosen to paint the portraits of Henry VIII, his family and leading figures, among them Anne Boleyn and Sir Thomas More. By his death, Holbein’s work was as admired by his contemporaries as it is today. His portraits inspired the next generation of artists in their depictions of Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.
This exhibition showcases one of the most important surviving collections of his work, and includes drawings, paintings, miniatures and book illustrations. Celebrating Holbein’s artistic skill, it explores the career of the artist and the lives of those who commissioned portraits from him, bringing us face-to-face with some of the most famous people of 16th-century England.
Hans Holbein (1497/8-1543) travelled to England from the Swiss city of Basel in 1526. He was seeking work at the English court, where Henry VIII employed artists from across Europe to celebrate the power and glory of the Tudor dynasty.
Over the next 17 years, Holbein would become one of the most successful artists working in England. His clients included senior courtiers, leading nobles and members of the Tudor royal family.
Holbein's success in England was due to his skill at portraiture. He came from a family of artists from Augsburg in Germany and learned to draw and paint at an early age. Contemporaries praised him as an 'incomparable painter' and a 'wonderful artist'. His portrait paintings and miniatures depicted sitters who, as the inscription on one painting proclaimed, only needed a voice to appear alive.
Holbein's portraits started with drawings of his sitters, taken from the life. Although made as working studies, these drawings are beautiful works of art in their own right. Their detail reveals much about Holbein's working practice as he developed and refined his composition, a process which continued as he began to paint.
[*King's Gallery]
Unless otherwise stated, the item is by Holbein
Taken in King's Gallery