Capturing likeness

The painting of Steelyard merchant Derich Born, 1533, for which no portrait drawing survives (605 x 450mm, oil on oak panel, The Royal Collection, RCIN 405681), bears the following inscription on the stone ledge, which leaves no doubt as to Holbein’s skill, as well as indicating the true likeness of the sitter:

98James Watrous, The Craft of Old-Master Drawings. The University of Wisconsin Press:

Wisconsin.1957.91

DERICHVS SI VOCEM ADDAS IPSISSIMVS HIC SIT / HVNC DVBITES PICTOR FECERIT AN GENITOR / DER BORN ETATIS SV AE 23 ANNO 1533.[If you added a voice, this would be Derich his very self. You would be in doubt whether the painter or his father made him. Der Born aged 23, the year 1533]

Since a key function of a portrait drawing is to capture the likeness of the sitter, it is important to include what contemporaneous information there is on such a procedure.

The physical act of sitting for a portrait implies it was done from life and raises questions about the practicalities of the procedure, including how long it may have taken, and what materials were suited to such a function. This is a matter of importance, not least because it can give some indication of what can be captured during a live sitting, and what might be added later. References to the length of a sitting in historic literature are sparse and not usually recorded by the artist themselves. Susan Foister has noted that a sitting of two hours was recorded in Northern Italy in 1491.⁹⁹ Miniaturist Edward Norgate suggests three sittings, of between two to four hours each in order to execute a portrait miniature of the sitter, but taking note of how long a sitter could bear to sit.¹⁰⁰

The only account of Holbein’s procedure of capturing a likeness of a sitter is from letters recounting his visit to Brussels in March 1538.¹⁰¹Sent to take a portrait of Christina of Denmark, potential fourth wife to Henry VIII, the English ambassador Philip Hoby (1505-1558) mentions a sitting of ‘but three hours space’ in which time Holbein produced a resulting likeness that Hoby thought ‘very perfect’.¹⁰²

Frustratingly, no drawing of Christina survives so we are unable to gauge what such a three hour sitting would have produced. However, it is a good guide for the rest of the extant drawings – some more detailed than others, despite condition, which clearly indicates that some had more time spent on them than others. Whilst there is no

99Susan Foister, Drawings by Holbein from The Royal Library, Windsor Castle, with an introduction &

catalogue by Susan Foister. Johnson Reprint Co. Ltd, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich: London. 1983. Limited Edition in two volumes.14

100Edward Norgate, Miniatura or the Art of Limning. Eds. Jeffrey M Muller and Jim Murrell. Yale University Press: New Haven and London. 1997.73

101Drawing a portrait from the life as a preliminary route to the final painting was common practice.

Letters written by artist Jean Perréal (c1455-c1530) provide documentary evidence of such a sitting:

“…your honourable mother in law and honourable wife did me the honour of their goodness and yours, the proof being that I have done crayons, in two colours, of the face of the distinguished mistress your wife”. Letter from Jean Perréal to Louis Berangier, October 8^th1511, footnoted in Etienne Jollet’s Jean and Francois Clouet. Trans. Deke Dusinberre. Paris : Editions De La Lagune, 1997.22.

102A.B Chamberlain, Hans Holbein the Younger. George Allen: & Co: London. 1913. Vol.2.294-5

mention of the method of taking the portrait, the practicality of the job in hand assumes a drawing was the method of choice. Holbein was clearly able to portray what he saw in front of him.

The majority of Holbein’s portrait drawings are in three quarter profile, looking predominantly to the (true) left. Other poses include profiles and the more

confrontational gaze of full-face portraits. The pose of a sitter certainly warrants further study. Historian Mark Roskill has written on the analysis of poses, citing treatises on the conduct of men and women that reference self-presentation and social behaviour.¹⁰³ Taking this aspect into account when viewing a portrait adds further insight into the chosen composition, illustrating certain rules and social conventions. For example, for pendant portraits, the woman was invariably placed to the man’s (true) left.

Miniaturist, Nicholas Hilliard (c.1547-1619) recommended certain lighting for the sitting, and a distance from the artist to the sitter of at least two yards, increasing to six yards for a full-length portrait. He further suggested that the sitter and the artist be on the same level and also alerted the portraitist to the problem of movement of the sitter, claiming it to be ‘the greatest cause of losing the likeness in pictures’.¹⁰⁴

Apart from the actual pose, there are various aspects of a portrait drawing that offer information about the sitting itself. Lorne Campbell suggested that aspects such as pupil size and lights in the sitters’ eyes provide information regarding the lighting during the sitting.¹⁰⁵ However, the painted version of a portrait may not be a pictorially exact copy of the drawing. Lighting and clothing may change and in the case of the drawing of Lady Guildford, (Figure 14), the drawing has an informality that the painting lacks. This is discussed at greater length in Chapter Four. As discussed in Chapter Two, research conducted by the author has not provided any evidence that Holbein used a drawing machine¹⁰⁶or other optical devices in the creation of the portrait drawings and it is therefore assumed that Holbein would have drawn his

103See Mark Roskill, ‘Lady with a squirrel and starling by Holbein: Incursions of the Figurative in his portraits’. Hans Holbein: Paintings, Prints and Reception. Studies in the History of Art. 60. New Haven:

Yale University Press. 2001.177

104Nicholas Hilliard, A Treatise Concerning the Arte of Limning, together with A More Compendious Discourse Concerning Ye Art of Limning by Edward Norgate, with a parallel modernized text edited by R K R Thornton & T G S Cain. Mid Northumberland Arts Group 1981.81

105Lorne Campbell, Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian. Yale University Press.2008.36

106See Appendix Three for a discussion on the reconstruction and use of a Dürer-style drawing apparatus.

portraits during live sittings.¹⁰⁷