Unknown, Portrait of King Henry VII, late 18th century or later

Chicago:

Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, “Unknown, Portrait of King Henry VII, late 18th century or later,” catalogue entry in Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Blythe Sobol, and Maggie Keenan, The Starr Collection of Portrait Miniatures, 1500–1850: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, vol. 3, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024), https://doi.org/10.37764/8322.5.1687.

MLA:

Marcereau DeGalan, Aimee. “Unknown, Portrait of King Henry VII, late 18th century or later,” catalogue entry. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Blythe Sobol, and Maggie Keenan. The Starr Collection of Portrait Miniatures, 1500–1850: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, edited by Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, vol. 3, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024. doi: 10.37764/8322.5.1687.

Despite its modest scale and unassuming appearance, this portrait encapsulates the grandeur of its subject, King Henry VII of England, a figure larger than life. As the son of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond and Lady Margaret Beaufort, Henry assumed leadership of the House of Lancaster following the death of Henry VI, establishing the illustrious Tudor dynasty.¹ His ascent to power in 1485, marked by the defeat of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, quelled the War of the Roses. Henry solidified his legacy through a strategic union with Elizabeth of York, bridging the feuding houses of Lancaster and York.²

Crafted by an unknown artist, this portrait portrays Henry VII in a regal red and gold robe, embellished with jewels and fur and wearing an ornamented black cap, set against a brilliant blue background. The opulence of Tudor textiles, featuring damasks, satins, velvets, and furs, is on full display. Although this was previously considered the earliest miniature in the Starr Miniature Collection, closer scrutiny reveals deviations from the characteristics typical of the early sixteenth century, notably in the treatment of jewelry and the detailing on the jacket. Early artists frequently used colored resins that were applied in thick layers, lending a certain three-dimensional effect, whereas here they appear rather flat, raising questions about the portrait’s dating.³ Similarly, the blue in the background does not show the level of age one would expect for a miniature from the 1500s, and the gold detailing on the coat appears prosaic, as does the jewel on the cap. The miniature is encased in an eighteenth-century bracelet mount, and some scholars propose this period for its origin, while others advocate for a late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century creation date.⁴

The popularity of monarch portraits, both contemporaneous and posthumous, fueled a demand for copies.⁵ Painted and engraved portrait sets of kings and queens, widespread during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and James I, persisted well into the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, further propagating these images for antiquarian collectors and copyists alike.⁶ A notable example is the “Bosworth Jewel,” housed in the Royal Collections, a set of four portrait miniatures by Nicholas Hilliard (ca. 1547–1619) from around 1600, including a likeness of Henry VII (Fig. 1), and set in an enameled gold box (now lost) that bore a representation of the Battle of Bosworth on its lid. Such sets became highly prized possessions for antiquarian collectors.

In response to this antiquarian interest, artists like George Perfect Harding (ca. 1780–1853) emerged, creating watercolor copies of oil portraits, often on a small scale.⁷ The present miniature, with its reverse orientation of Hilliard’s Henry VII, suggests a similar spirit of emulation. Further research is required to determine whether it is a copy after a specific painting or a composite work, drawing inspiration from several known portraits or prints after portraits of Henry VII. In any case, the present work would have held significant antiquarian appeal, making it highly collectible in its day.

In early modern Europe, portraits were frequently copied and reproduced from originals, as royal sitters seldom posed multiple times in their lifetimes. Successive copies often led to a more rigid and wooden appearance, as exemplified in the present miniature. Nevertheless, despite its diminutive scale and stiff portrayal, this unassuming portrait masterfully captures the enduring majesty of its subject, King Henry VII.

Notes

1. For further biographical information and insight on Henry VII, see S. B. Chrimes, Henry VII (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999).

2. A clever and strategic king, he formed powerful alliances with Spain, Scotland, and France through the arranged marriages of his children, making for a relatively peaceful and prosperous England under the House of Tudor. For more on this aspect of Henry VII, see Steven Gunn, “Henry VII in Context: Problems and Possibilities,” History 92, no. 3 (2007): 301–17.

3. This observation was made by Bernd Pappe after viewing the miniature in person during his visit to Kansas City, August, 2023. Notes in NAMA curatorial files.

4. Stephen Lloyd feels the miniature is akin to those created by George Perfect Harding and dates it to the late eighteenth century, whereas Bernd Pappe feels it could be late nineteenth/early twentieth century. Both specialists saw the work in person in the summer and fall of 2023; notes in NAMA curatorial files.

5. For a contemporaneous likeness of Henry VII, see Unknown (probably after Meynnart Wewyck), Portrait of King Henry VII of England, 1504/9, tempera and oil on panel, 12 5/8 x 9 in. (32.1 x 22.9 cm), Milwaukee Art Museum, M1989.63, https://collection.mam.org/details.php?id=4618. There is a later related miniature by Nicholas Hilliard, Henry VII, ca. 1600, watercolor and bodycolor on vellum laid on playing card, 1 3/8 in. (3.4 cm) diam., in the Royal Collection, RCIN 420012, https://www.rct.uk/collection/420012/henry-vii-1457-1509], part of the Bosworth Jewel. See also English School, Portrait of Henry VII, 16th century, oil on panel transferred to canvas, sold at Sotheby’s, London, December 6, 2012, lot 107, https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/old-master-british-paintings-day-sale-l12037/lot.107.html. See also Unknown Netherlandish artist, Portrait of King Henry VII, 1505, oil on panel, 16 3/4 x 12 in. (42.5 x 30.5 cm), National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG 416, https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw03078. Also possibly related is a miniature within a frame of eight belonging to the Duke of Buccleuch, illustrated in Stephen Lloyd, Portrait Miniatures from the Collection of the Duke of Buccleuch (Edinburgh: Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1996), 26–27, 65, pl. 2, originally in the collection of Charles I at Whitehall (given to Charles by Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk).

6. One particular series of these portraits was engraved for a publication called The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine by John Speed, first published in 1611, in which the portraits surround a map of Lancashire. The series celebrates the union of the houses of Lancaster and York through the marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in 1486. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, prints were “Grangerized,” so-named after English clergyman, biographer, and print collector James Granger, author of A Biographical History of England from Ebbert the Great to the Revolution (London: T. Davies, 1769). Beginning around 1814, print collector William Fleming amassed approximately eleven thousand portrait prints and arranged and interfiled them to illustrate a disbound copy of Granger’s book and its continuation by the Rev. Mark Noble (London: W. Richardson, 1806), https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/set/139. “Grangerizing” or “Extra-illustration” became a term used to describe the collecting of additional illustrations by an independent collector to be interleaved with a separately produced text. One unintended consequence of this excessive collecting was the scrapbooking mania of the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries. See Robert Wark, “The Gentle Pastime of Extra-Illustrating Books,” Huntington Library Quarterly 56, no. 2 (Spring 1993): 151–65. See also Lucy Peltz, “The Pleasure of the Book: Extra-Illustration, an 18th-century Fashion,” Things, no. 8 (Summer 1998), 6–31.

7. Lloyd suggests the artist of the present miniature was someone like George Perfect Harding and that the idea behind the work would have been of antiquarian interest, rather than an outright decorative miniature. Notes in NAMA curatorial files.

With an unknown owner, by 1950;

Purchased from the unknown owner’s sale, Objects of Vertu Including Ivory and Enamel Boxes, Portrait Miniatures, Limoges Enamel, Carvings by Faberge, Etc., Fine Early English Watches, Sotheby’s, London, April 27, 1950, lot 59, as Henry VII, after Holbein, by Leggatt Brothers, London, probably on behalf of Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, 1950–1958 [1];

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1958.

Notes

[1] According to the sales catalogue, “Various properties” sold lots 14–67. Described in the catalogue as “An Early Miniature of Henry VII, after Holbein, nearly full face, wearing a black cap with a jewel, grey hair falling to a fur stole over a red tunic enriched with gems, blue background, oval, 1 1/2 in.” The annotated catalogue for this sale is located at University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Miller Nichols Library. The annotations are most likely by Mr. or Mrs. Starr. The lot number is circled, with a slash to the left of the lot, and “28F” and “84.” According to an attached price list, Leggatt bought lot 59 for 28 pounds. Archival research has shown that Leggatt Brothers served as purchasing agents for the Starrs. See correspondence between Betty Hogg and Martha Jane Starr, May 15 and June 3, 1950, Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.

Probably after Meynnart Wewyck, Henry VII of England, 1504/9, tempera and oil on panel, 12 5/8 x 9 in. (32.1 x 22.9 cm), Milwaukee Art Museum, M1989.63.

Unknown Netherlandish artist, King Henry VII, 1505, oil on panel, 16 3/4 x 12 in. (42.5 x 30.5 cm), National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG 416.

English School, Portrait of King Henry VII, 16th century, oil on panel transferred to canvas, sold at L10237, Sotheby’s, London, December 6, 2012, lot 107.

Nicholas Hilliard, Henry VII, ca. 1600, watercolor and bodycolor on vellum laid on playing card, 1 1/4 in. (3.1 cm) diam., Royal Collection Trust, RCIN 420012.

The Starr Foundation Collection of Miniatures, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, December 8, 1972–January 14, 1973, no cat., no. 1, as Henry VII.

Catalogue of Objects of Vertu Including Ivory and Enamel Boxes, Portrait Miniatures, Limoges Enamel, Carvings by Faberge, Etc., Fine Early English Watches (London: Sotheby’s, April 27, 1950), 8, as An early Miniature of Henry VIII, after Holbein.

“The Starr Collection of Miniatures: European and American,” Bulletin (The Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum) 1, no. 2 (December 1958): 16.

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 265, as Henry VII.

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 1, p. 10, (repro.), as Henry VII.