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The Emperor Charles V

Portrait Miniature
1525-1530 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Charles V was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, ruler of all the Habsburg domains. This miniature is a version of an oil painting (in the British Royal Collection) made in the studio of Bernart van Orley. King Henry VIII was married to the Emperor's aunt, Catherine of Aragon, and the Emperor probably sent the oil portrait as a gift to the Tudor court. Lucas Horenbout ((also known as Hornebolte) made other reduced copies of oil portraits, including a miniature of Henry VIII’s grandmother, Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond. In 1534 Horenbout received a formal grant of the office of the King's painter, and on the same day became a ‘denizen’, a special form of citizenship granted to foreigners.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Emperor Charles V (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on vellum laid down on card
Brief description
Portrait miniature of the Emperor Charles V, watercolour on vellum, painted by Lucas Hornebolte, 1525-1530.
Physical description
Portrait of a man, head and shoulders, turned to and looking to right; wearing a black hat and a pendant around his neck. Circle edged with gold.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 42mm
Dimensions taken from: Strong, Roy. Artists of the Tudor Court: the Portrait Miniature Rediscovered 1520-1620.. London: The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983.
Content description
Portrait of a man, head and shoulders, turned slightly to right, wearing a black hat and a pendant round his neck.
Styles
Marks and inscriptions
'276' (Inscribed on the reverse)
Credit line
Transferred from the British Museum
Object history
Provenance: Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753); recorded in his inventory under no. 276 as “Philip the 2d of Spain painted in miniature by Oliver”; passed with his collection to the British Museum in 1754; transferred along with twenty-two other miniatures to the V&A, 1934.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Charles V was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, ruler of all the Habsburg domains. This miniature is a version of an oil painting (in the British Royal Collection) made in the studio of Bernart van Orley. King Henry VIII was married to the Emperor's aunt, Catherine of Aragon, and the Emperor probably sent the oil portrait as a gift to the Tudor court. Lucas Horenbout ((also known as Hornebolte) made other reduced copies of oil portraits, including a miniature of Henry VIII’s grandmother, Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond. In 1534 Horenbout received a formal grant of the office of the King's painter, and on the same day became a ‘denizen’, a special form of citizenship granted to foreigners.
Bibliographic references
  • Strong, Roy. Artists of the Tudor Court: the Portrait Miniature Rediscovered 1520-1620.. London: The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983.
  • Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1942, London: HMSO, 1955.
Collection
Accession number
P.22-1942

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Record createdFebruary 21, 2003
Record URL
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