Holbein, Hans II ; Vorsterman, Lucas I Lot n° 500

After HOLBEIN, Hans II The portraits of Sir William Butts and Elisabeth Rich. [17th c.] 2 drawings, black chalk and pastel, 16 x 14,5 cm, laid paper, unsigned. Stuck under passe-partout, under frame (not studied outside frame). Two small drawings, after original works by Hans Holbein the Younger. A second copy after Holbein's portrait of Sir William Butts (1485-1545), chief surgeon at the court of Henry VIII, is now in the National Portrait Gallery (NPG 210). The female sitter can possibly be identified as Lady Elisabeth Rich, wife to Richard Rich, Lord Chancellor during the reign of King Edward VI of England from 1547 until January 1552. Although the portrait ensemble resembles that of marriage portraits, the two sitters were unrelated. The portraits have previously been attributed to Lucas I Vorsterman (1578-1636), who was working at the British court in the 1620s and who had made engravings after Holbein's paintings, such as the portrait of Thomas Howard. This attribution can not be confirmed. Ref. S. Foister, "Holbein and England", 2004, p. 70. Prov. Sale Sotheby's (as L. Vorsterman), 31 May 1932, Lot 25.