Portrait of sir thomas wyatt, a copy, by another hand, of hans holbein's portrait (below). Black and coloured chalks, pen and ink on pink-primed paper, 37 × 27. 7 cm, royal collection, windsor castle. Holbein's original
thomas wyatt (1503?–42) was a diplomat and a gifted poet who introduced the italian sonnet form to england. He was arrested after the fall of anne boleyn, whom he had admired in poetry, but he recovered to become ambassador to the emperor charles v before being arrested again in 1541. Holbein also drew a profile portrait of wyatt and designed goldsmiths' work for him. In the opinion of k. T. Parker, in his study of the windsor drawings: "this is an old, close and very skilful copy [of the original], the only case in the windsor series of an original and copy having been preserved together. The copyist was clearly a draughtsman of unusual ability, and it might be permissible to hazard a guess that he was federico zuccaro, who is known to have made copies of designs by holbein. The difference in quality between the two drawings is nevertheless marked, the superiority of [the original] being manifest at first sight". References
susan foister, holbein in england, london: tate, 2006, isbn 1854376454, p. 56. K. T. Parker, the drawings of hans holbein at windsor castle, oxford: phaidon, 1945, oclc 822974, p. 54. Date: Probably late 16th century.
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