King Henry VIII and King Henry VII, the Whitehall Cartoon
Hans Holbein the Younger (about 1497 to 1543) · About 1536 to 1537
A life size Henry the Eighth stands in front of you with his feet apart, his shoulders filling the sheet, one hand on his dagger and his father Henry the Seventh leaning on a stone block behind him. This is not a painting but a working drawing, a full scale cartoon that Holbein made to transfer his design onto the wall of the Privy Chamber at Whitehall Palace. The tiny holes pricked along every outline are still there if you look closely, made so that charcoal dust could be pounced through them onto the wall.
The finished mural, painted in fifteen thirty seven, showed the two kings with their wives Jane Seymour and Elizabeth of York around a central altar. It burned with the palace in sixteen ninety eight, so this left hand section of the cartoon is the closest we can get to Holbein's own hand at work on the most famous royal image in English history. Notice that the king's head here is turned slightly to the side, in three quarter view. In the finished mural, and in all the later copies, Holbein swung the face round to stare straight out, which is the pose everyone knows.
The cartoon survived because it was kept as a curiosity, and it was bought for the gallery in nineteen fifty seven. The paper is fragile and the light in the room is kept low. Take your time with the details: the fur, the jewels, the embroidered cloth, and the sheer physical bulk that Holbein used to turn a difficult man into a monument.
Did You Know? The outlines are pricked with hundreds of tiny holes so that charcoal could be dusted through them to transfer the drawing onto the palace wall.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.