Attributed to WILLIAM SCROTS (active 1537-1554)

Details

Attributed to WILLIAM SCROTS (active 1537-1554)

Portrait of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, aged 29, standing full length, wearing an embroidered costume and the chain and jewel of the Garter, with a dagger and sword, by a pedestal

inscribed 'ANNO.1546./AETATIS.SVAE. 29' and 'SAT/SVPER/EST'--oil on canvas
83½ x 49in. (212.1 x 125.1cm.)

Provenance

The Earl of Effingham; sale, Christie's, London, July 24, 1959, lot 127, as Guillim Stretes (#84 to Newton)
The Estate of Barbara Hutton, 1980

Exhibited

London, Royal Academy, Exhibition of the Works of Holbein and other Masters, 1950-51, no. 51

Lot Essay

Several versions of the present composition are known, all on canvas, at Pelham Park, Knole, Castle Howard and Arundel. Roy Strong notes that fifty marks were paid for 'three great retables', two of Edward VI and one of Surrey (R. Strong, The English Icon, 1969, p. 72, no. 7). He argues that these probably refer to full length portraits on panel and that all versions of this picture now extant are copies of a lost original by Scrots