![A lady wearing a soft cap of dense white fur sits with a red squirrel in her lap and a glossy-feathered starling at her shoulder. The subject of this portrait was identified in 2004 as Anne Lovell, wife of Sir Francis Lovell (d. 1551), an esquire of the body to Henry VIII. David J. King, in his article "Who was Holbein's lady with a squirrel and a starling?", proposed that the starling in the painting encodes a pun on the Lovell family's seat at East Harling, Norfolk.[1] The starling and the squirrel were traditional elements in the Lovell iconography.[2] Holbein painted the portrait during his first visit to England, which lasted from summer 1526 to to summer 1528. King suggests it might have been done in winter, since the sitter wears a warm fur hat. During this first stay, Holbein worked largely for the circle of Thomas More and his connections: his drawing of More's ward Margaret Giggs shows her wearing the same type of hat. Holbein also painted portraits of Sir Henry Guildford and Mary, Lady Guildford, with similar decorative foliage in the background.[3] At this stage of his career, he often adapted such designs from pattern books; in his last decade he set his portrait subjects against plain backgrounds in a more iconic style. Art historian John Rowlands judges this painting "the most charming of the portraits from Holbein's first stay in England".[4]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Lady_with_a_Squirrel_detail.jpg)
Lady_with_a_Squirrel_detail.jpg (304 × 343 pixels, file size: 112 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
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Summary
Hans Holbein the Younger: A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling (Anne Lovell?)
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| Artist |
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| Title |
A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling (Anne Lovell?)  |
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| Object type |
painting |
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| Genre |
portrait |
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| Description |
Portrait of a lady thought to be Anne Lovell, wife of Sir Francis Lovell, who was employed at the court of Henry VIII of England. |
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| Date | circa 1526–1528 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medium | oil on oak wood | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dimensions | height: 56 cm (22 in); width: 38.8 cm (15.2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Notes |
A lady wearing a soft cap of dense white fur sits with a red squirrel in her lap and a glossy-feathered starling at her shoulder. The subject of this portrait was identified in 2004 as Anne Lovell, wife of Sir Francis Lovell (d. 1551), an esquire of the body to Henry VIII. David J. King, in his article "Who was Holbein's lady with a squirrel and a starling?", proposed that the starling in the painting encodes a pun on the Lovell family's seat at East Harling, Norfolk.[1] The starling and the squirrel were traditional elements in the Lovell iconography.[2] Holbein painted the portrait during his first visit to England, which lasted from summer 1526 to to summer 1528. King suggests it might have been done in winter, since the sitter wears a warm fur hat. During this first stay, Holbein worked largely for the circle of Thomas More and his connections: his drawing of More's ward Margaret Giggs shows her wearing the same type of hat. Holbein also painted portraits of Sir Henry Guildford and Mary, Lady Guildford, with similar decorative foliage in the background.[3] At this stage of his career, he often adapted such designs from pattern books; in his last decade he set his portrait subjects against plain backgrounds in a more iconic style. Art historian John Rowlands judges this painting "the most charming of the portraits from Holbein's first stay in England".[4]
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| References |
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| Source/Photographer | http://www.wga.hu/ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Permission (Reusing this file) |
PD | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Licensing
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This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".
This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details. | ||||
File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
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| current | 17:37, 4 September 2006 | | 304 × 343 (112 KB) | PKM | {{Information |Description=Detail of Image:Lady with a Squirrel.jpg |Source=http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk |Date=15287-28 |Author=Hans Holbein the Younger |Permission=PD |other_versions= }} {{Creator:Hans Holbein d. J.}} [[Category:Renaissance |
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