- Museum number
- 1854,0708.1
- Description
-
Design for a chimney-piece; fireplace with two columns on either side, several battle scenes above, circular busts, a scrolling frieze with Henry VIII's initial and Tudor roses, roundels and the Royal arms, initials and an entablature, a fire in the grate below
Pen and black and brown ink, with grey, blue and red wash
- Production date
- 1537-1543 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 539 millimetres
-
Width: 427 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Edited from J. Rowlands, 'German Drawings in the British Museum... by artists born before 1530', 2 vols. London, British Museum Press,1993, no. 327:
'This is almost certainly the drawing seen by Henry Peacham in the early seventeenth century which he considered 'Henry had bespoke for his new built pallace at Bridewell'. This building became Henry's principal London residence for a few years and was almost complete when the Emperor Charles V stayed there in June 1522. It is mentioned in a letter of 6 June, written by Gasparo Contarini to the Venetian 'Signoria', where he describes the entry of Henry VIII with the Emperor into the city of London and refers to 'Uno palazo fornito novamente' where they lodged after visiting the Cathedral (St Mark's Library, Venice, Contarini's Original Letter Book, no. 167; see R. Brown, 'Calendar of State Papers. Venetian, etc., iii, 1520-6', London, 1869, p. 236, no. 466). Bridewell was later abandoned by Henry in favour of Whitehall (formerly York House) of which he took possession after the fall of Wolsey in 1530. As Holbein did not arrive in England from his home town of Basel before the late summer of 1526, this design cannot be connected with Bridewell; although the lavish heraldic details indicate that it was intended for a royal building. Summerson noted that this drawing is the only certain evidence we have of Holbein's architectural work in England. Recent attempts to re-attribute it to Nicholas Bellin of Modena (c. 1490-1569), by Biddle and then Béguin are unconvincing. Sylvie Béguin assembled a small group of architectural studies, including 1854,0708.1, and followed Otto Kurz's initial suggestion ('Burlington', lxxxii/iii, 1943, p. 81) of an attribution to Bellin. The best of these drawings is the 'Design for a wall decoration with the emblem of Queen Catherine Parr in the Louvre, Paris (inv. no. 19.215; Lugt, 'Pays-Bas', p. 70, no. 257, repr.) which Lugt catalogued among the Netherlandish drawings, c. 1550. Contrary to her intention, Béguin's article convinces one that 1854,0708.1 cannot be by Bellin, whose accepted work shows a strong influence of the Fontainebleau School, especially that of Francesco Primaticcio (1504-70), which is not evident here. On stylistic grounds, the drawing may preferably be placed towards the end of Holbein's career, c. 1537-43. The design of this chimney-piece is reflected in English architecture of later decades, such as the grand chimney-piece, at Loseley, near Guildford, Surrey, of 1562-8. This could have been copied or adapted from such work at Nonsuch Palace, as it is known that there was a connection between the two buildings in the person of Sir Thomas Cawarden (see J. Dent, 'The Quest for Nonsuch', 1962, pp. 42-53).'
Additional information:
The drawing is reproduced in Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, 'Church Art and Architecture in the Low Countries before 1566', Sixteenth Century Essays & Studies, vol.37, Kirksville, Missouri, 1997, p.64, where it is described as being closely related to the choir screen of King's College Chapel, Cambridge, thought by Bangs to be a Holbein design. See also S. Foister, 'Holbein and England', New Haven and London, 2004, p.147, fig.153
Early literature from Rowlands 1993: 'H. Peacham, Compleat Gentleman, 1622 and 1634, modern edition, Oxford, 1906, p. 128; The Works of Horatio Walpole, Earl of Orford, edited by R. Berry, ii, London, 1798, p. 460; Waagen, Treasures Suppl., pp. 37f.; BM Guide, 1862 (1867), p. 8, no. 23; Reid, pl. 1; Woltmann, ii, p. 135, no. 197; His, pls. xlviii, xlix, 1; BM Guide, 1895, p. 58, no. 291*; LB, ii, p. 330, no. 16; M.L. Cox, Burlington, xix, 1911, p. 293, col. i; L.A. Shuffrey, The English Fireplace, London, 1912, pp. 82ff; Chamberlain, ii, pp. 269f.; Hervey, Thomas Howard, p. 421; Ganz, p. 30, no. 123, repr.; Schmid, Holbein, ii, pp. 343, 400, 408ff., 425, iii, p. 38, no. 141, repr. detail; J. Summerson, Architecture in Britain 1530-1830, Harmondsworth, 1955, p. 333, n. 7; White, p. 570, no. 188; M. Biddle, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 3rd series, xxix, London, 1966, pp. 112-3; S. Béguin, La Revue du Louvre et des Musées de France, xx, Paris, 1970, no. 1, p. 10, repr.; C. Wainwright, Burlington, cxiii, 1971, p. 258, repr.; NPG, More, pp. 50f., no. 74, repr.; Colvin, King's Works, iv, part ii, 1982, p. 25; BM Dürer and Holbein, pp. 247-8, no. 210, repr.'
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1862(67), BM London, Guide Drawing&Prints, King’s Library, no. 23
1895 BM London, Guide Drawings Old Masters, Malcolm Collection, no. 291
1934 BM, Exhibition of English Art, no.266
1977/8 Nov-Jan, London, NPG, 'Sir Thomas More', no. 74
1984 BM, Master Drawings & Watercolours, no. 63
1988 Jul-Oct, BM, Age of Dürer & Holbein, no. 210
2003 Jan-Mar, Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, 'Henry Vlll revealed'
2006/7 Sep-Jan, London, Tate, 'Holbein in England', no.102
2010 Mar-Jul, London, V&A, Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill
- Previous owner
-
Previous owner/ex-collection: Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel
-
Previous owner/ex-collection: Jonathan Richardson Senior (L.2184)
-
Previous owner/ex-collection: Thomas Hudson (L.2432; sale, Longfords, 1779, 25 March, lot 59, bt Walpole £4 4s.)
-
Previous owner/ex-collection: Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (Sale, Strawberry Hill, G. Robins, 1842, 17 May, lot 64, bt Dommes £33 12s.)
- Acquisition date
- 1854
- Acquisition notes
- See Carpenter's report recommending the purchase on 5 July 1854
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1854,0708.1
