Portrait study of sir thomas more. Black and coloured chalks on unprimed paper, 38 × 25. 8 cm, royal collection, windsor. Sir thomas more (1477/88–1535) was a leading english humanist scholar and lord chancellor under henry viii of england. He was executed in 1535 after refusing to sign the oath to the act of supremacy. More received hans holbein as a guest in 1526, after a recommendation from his friend desiderius erasmus. Holbein painted a portrait of more based on a second, similar, study and also a group portrait of more's family, now lost, in which more was pictured in the same pose. Seven portrait sketches of more family members survive in addition to this one, along with a pen-and-ink study for the group portrait. Holbein's other drawing of more, which is pricked for transfer, is considered superior to this one, whose outlines have been reworked by another hand; the wash is also not by holbein. However, a hint of left-handedness has been detected in some lines in the collar, and holbein was left-handed. Art scholar k. T. Parker wrote of this drawing: "the general effect is empty, and even as a rapid and preliminary essay in portraiture, rubbed and retouched, the drawing is somewhat unconvincing" (k. T. Parker, the drawings of hans holbein at windsor castle, oxford: phaidon, 1945, oclc 822974, p. 36). Date: 1526–27.
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