- Museum number
- 1854,0628.74
- Description
-
Henry VIII dining in his privy chamber; interior scene with the King seated at a table at centre, beneath a canopy, being waited on, groups of figures at left and right, cupboard with vessels at right
Pen and brown ink, with grey wash
- Production date
- 1548 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 98 millimetres
-
Width: 110 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Paul Ganz originally proposed that this drawing is based on a sketch by Holbein, perhaps one intended as companion to the woodcut by Jacob Faber, 'Henry VIII in council', after Holbein's design, which appeared in Edward Halle's 'Chronicle' of 1548 (A.M. Hind, 'Engraving in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries', Cambridge, 1952-64, vol.1, no.5; see BM inv.no G,3.178). In any case, it is likely to have been made for a print because, as David Starkey was the first to notice, the arms above the king's head are drawn in reverse. This is apparently the only surviving view of the king's main private chamber, where the monarch is being served by two of the Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, acting as carver and cupbearer.
Lit. from J. Rowlands, 'Drawings by German artists in the British Museum' 2 vols, 1993: 'Waagen, Treasures Suppl., p. 36; BM Guide, 1862 (1867), p. 6, no. 9.4; Woltmann, i, p. 403, ii,p. 133, no. 188; LB, ii, p. 342, under 'Attributed to Holbein' (b); Ganz, Holbein, p. 183; W. Stein, Holbein, Berlin, 1929, p. 287; Ganz, p. 81, no. c.15; Sutton Place, Renaissance, p. 67, no. 34'
Further lit: S. Thurley, 'Henry VIII. Images of a Tudor King', exh.cat. Hampton Court, 1990, p.101 (described as Henry VIII in his Presence Chamber); D. Starkey, 'Henry VIII: A European Court in England' exh.cat. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, 1991, p. 128, no. IX.1 (as 'the king dining abroad in the presence chamber'); S. Foister, 'Holbein and England', New Haven and London, 2004, p.181, fig.185.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1862(67), BM London, Guide Drawing & Prints, King's Library, no. 9.4
1983 May-Sep, Guildford, Sutton Place, 'Renaissance', no. 34
1991 May-Sep, London, National Maritime Museum, 'Henry VIII'
2003 Jan-Mar, Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, 'Henry Vlll revealed'
2015 Mar-Jul, Paris, Musée du Luxembourg, 'Les vrais Tudors'
- Acquisition date
- 1854
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1854,0628.74