Portrait of a Man Signed and dated 1539
Oil on panel | 41.7 x 34.0 x 0.6 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 405689
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This portrait is almost certainly the ‘Holbein, Head of an Old Man’ (of identical dimensions) in the ‘Dutch and Flemish List’, recording the works acquired by George III from Consul Smith in 1762. When the work reappears at Kensington Palace in 1790 and 1818 it is described as Holbein’s self-portrait, an attribution and identification it retained throughout the 19th Century. More recently the signature in monogram ‘HB’ has suggested the name Hans Baldung; but the style is quite different. Instead it has been attributed to the ‘Monogrammist H. B.’ in the hope that documents may in time furnish an artist’s name to flesh out these initials. Unfortunately there are several artists with the same name (the initials are common) and there is no particularly coherent group so far formed around this painting. Another portrait in the Royal Collection (RCIN 402741) is also signed in this manner, as was a portrait sold at Sotheby’s (21 April 2005, lot 18), though dating from 1574, 35 years after this work. Whether or not there is a coherent group of works which can be ascribed to an ‘HB Master’, this example would seem to be (as its early attribution suggests) by an admirer of Holbein, from Germany or elsewhere.
The sitter is shown at half-length, facing slightly to the left, head turned slightly to left, holding a glove in his left hand, his sword resting at his side; wearing a black doublet with fur trim and collar, with a crucifix on a gold chain, and a black cap with a brooch.
The painting appears in Pyne's illustrated Royal Residences of 1819, hanging in The Old Drawing Room at Kensington Palace (RCIN 922153).Provenance
Acquired as a Holbein by George III from Consul Smith in 1762 (Dutch and Flemish list, no 98); recorded as by Holbein in Kensington Palace in 1818
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on panel
Measurements
41.7 x 34.0 x 0.6 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
58.4 x 49.2 x 6.0 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)
Alternative title(s)
Portrait of a young man, previously entitled
Portrait of Hans Holbein, previously entitled
Portrait of a bearded man, previously entitled