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Portrait of Thomas Cromwell is a small oil painting by the German and Swiss artist Hans Holbein the Younger, usually dated to between 1532 and 1534, when Cromwell, an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII of England from 1532 to 1540, was around 48 years old.
It depicts Thomas Cromwell, one of the artist’s patrons during his second trip to London in the summer of 1532. Determined to become Henry VIII’s court painter, Holbein continued to paint portraits during this period, primarily of German merchants in England.
Holbein's Portrait of Thomas Cromwell, is a smaller than usual panel painting, which was painted when the sitter was about 48. It is one of two portraits which Holbein completed of Cromwell; the second is a circular picture, part of a series of medallions of Tudor statesmen and courtiers.
After he had become Master of the Jewels in 1532, Cromwell sat to Holbein the Younger (1497/8–1543). Recent technical analysis confirms that this portrait is an early seventeenth-century version of an original by Holbein in the Frick Collection, New York.
In the New York Frick Collection, two portraits by Holbein hang facing each other on the same wall of the Study, one depicting Thomas Cromwell, the other Thomas More, Cromwell's executed political and religious opponent.
This portrait of Thomas Cromwell may be one of the first miniatures Holbein painted. It was made during his second visit to England in 1532 when Cromwell was advancing as a trusted councillor of the king. The mount has been cut from a playing card of the suit of spades.
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Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex. (circa 1485-1540), Statesman. Sitter associated with 28 portraits. Cromwell rose to power as Cardinal Wolsey 's right-hand man, later becoming principal secretary and chief minister to Henry VIII.
