In Martin Conway's article 'A portrait of Henry VIII," it described a portrait of the King of England Henry VIII as: "No other example of this type of portrait of the King is Known, so far as I have been able to discover (Conway 42)." It matched with my semester theme which is art is one of the most important humanity. Henry VIII (28 June 1491 -28 Jan 1547) was King of England. He reigned 38 years in England from 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry was the son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. He was well educated and had earned a lot of title when he was young. However, he was never expected to become king because his older brother Arthur was the successor of the Henry VII. However, Arthur dead so Henry became the successor of their father, Henry VII. In 1509, Henry VII died and Henry VIII succeeded him as king. During Henry VIII's 38 years reign, people liked him. Per the six wives of Henry VIII wrote by Dr. David Starkey, he stated that Henry VIII was the most important reign in English history. It was a point at which the country broke with Rome, the point at which we ceased to be a Catholic country and became a Protestant one...He has been described as " one of the most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne" and his reign has been described as the "most important" in English history (Starkey, 7). During his reign, Henry was the first King that require Pope to annul his marriage with his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Also, He expended England's royal Navel and established the Navy Broad. However, Henry loves spending money and living in a luxury life. We can see his lifestyle from his portraits as well. In the below video, it summarize Henry VIII's life from his early childhood to his death.
Henry VIII, by Oversimplified, May 4 2020
Henry VIII love to spend money and enjoy his luxury lifestyle. From Hans Holbein the Younger's portrait of henry VIII c. 1536-1537, housed in Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, we can see his luxury outfit with fancy interior decoration, his gesture and his sword. All of those details on this painting has indicate his social status and his power as the King of England. Hans Holbein The Younger was a German painter with North Renaissance style. In Martin Conway's article "A Portrait of Henry VIII" Conway describe and analyzed this portrait in a great detail. He mentioned" The hair almost entirely covers the right ear, the gown is rose-coloured, lined with brown fur and trimmed with gold on the sleeves. This is cut low at the neck, and shows a white chemisette with band embroidered with gold. Across the shoulders is a sumptuous gold collar set with large oblong stones and clusters of pearls.(Conway 42) From his formal analysis of this portrait, there are a lot of gold and jewelry as decoration of Henry VIII's cloth. Luckily, there were no stolen or intentional damage of this painting. However, it was the only surviving painting of Henry in Hans Holbein's hand. Hans Holbein has painted Henry multiple times and in all of his painting, Henry always wear the similar clothes and posing with the same three quarter view. This painting served as a propaganda of Henry VIII's majesty.
Portrait of Henry VIII, by Hans Holbein the Younger, c.1536-1537, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
I am interested in studying Henry VIII is because I think he is a machiavellian ruler. He liked to use violence and executed potential competitors. He created fear to his citizen and he earned a good reputation among his contemporaries. Art can serve as a propaganda for powerful rulers. In this portrait painted by Hans Holbein, Henry VIII put his steady hand on a sword, it indicates his power as a commander in chief in England. His luxury draperies and decorative gold and jewelry shows off his social status and the wealth of this young King. Henry VIII and Hans Holbein affirmed my theme that art is one of the most important humanity. It is because we can see the meanings behind the arts. Art has practical meanings and symbolic meanings, it was well delivered in this portrait of Henry VIII.
work cite:
Conway, Martin. “A Portrait of Henry VIII.” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, vol. 45, no. 256, 1924, pp. 42–20. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/862178. Accessed 13 Nov. 2020.
Starkey, D. “The Six Wives of Henry VIII. About the Series. Behind the Scenes | PBS.” Thirteen.Org, pbs, 5 May 2018, www.thirteen.org/wnet/sixwives/about/behind_int_starkey2.html.
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