A reminder of how much art was commissioned by royalty in ages past – most of this exhibition is from the royal collection. Holbein’s drawings, apparently so easy but in fact carefully crafted on pink-washed paper, with chalks, ink and watercolour, leap from the page.
The direct observation reminds us of photographs and these wheeler-dealers and young men so pleased with themselves therefore look like mid-Victorians (and not just because the unfortunate hairstyles appeared in the 1850s again, or the early Tudors’ fondness for dodgy beards).
In other cases, the slightly bleared eyes of old age (here Thomas More’s father, a judge himself) reminds you of an Edwardian politicians after the port – or a golden and black sketch of an arts and crafts heroine about to sweep to dinner in her best dress.
theuniversalcabinet 