Lucas Horenbout, often called Hornebolte in England, born in Ghent c. 1490 and died in London in 1544. He was a Flemish artist who moved to England in the mid-1520s and worked there as "King's Painter" and court miniaturist to King Henry VIII from 1525 until his death. He was trained in the final phase of Netherlandish illuminated manuscript painting, in which his father was an important figure, and was the founding painter of the long and distinct English tradition of portrait miniature painting. He has often been suggested as the Master of the Cast Shadow Workshop, who produced royal portraits on panel in the 1520s or 1530s.
By 1531 he was described as the "King's Painter", and this appointment was confirmed for life in June 1534, when he became a "denizen" - effectively a naturalised citizen. Horenbout was very well paid, at sixty-two pounds and ten shillings (but only thirty-three pounds and six shillings according to Richard Gay) per year, a "huge" sum according to Strong, and better than Holbein?s thirty pounds a year in his period as Henry's court painter.[ He was granted a "tenement" in Charing Cross, and permitted to take on four foreign journeyman. Lucas was buried at Saint Martin in the Fields and left a wife and daughter, Margaret and Jacquemine. Margaret was paid sixty shillings three years later by Queen Catherine Parr for some paintings.
He can be said to be the founder of the English school of portrait miniature painting, which begins suddenly at the time of his arrival in England, and had very few continental precedents, although three lost miniatures, possibly by Jean Clouet, sent from the French to the English court, may have inspired the new form. Horenbout later taught the art to Hans Holbein the Younger, also a court artist of Henry.
Twenty-three surviving portrait miniatures have usually been attributed to Horenbout in recent decades; all but one, a portrait of Holbein, are of members of the English or other royal families. Paintings of at least four of Henry's Queens are attributed to him. A high proportion of those capable of being dated come from the 1520s.
Portrait miniature of Henry VIII , 1525-26, by Lucas Horenbout, from a charter in the Fitzwilliam Museum; "one of the earliest, if not the earliest, surviving portrait miniature".
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Horenbout_HenryVIII.jpg
Miniature of Hans Holbein the Younger. 1543, Horenbout copied a self-portrait drawing to create the miniature. Horenbout's miniature of Holbein (1543) is among his most accomplished works, not least because he copies the face from a self portrait drawing by Holbein; his own drawing skills are not the strongest. This miniature was also nearly always regarded as a self-portrait, until recent technical examination made clear that the style of painting is actually very different from that of undoubted Holbein miniatures: there is "an absence of his subtle gradations of flesh tone and colour" and "no sign of the extremely thin pen-like lines which are so notable a feature in Holbein's drawing of such details as the embroidered edges of costume.?
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/HolbeindJbyHorenbout-1.jpg
Catherine of Aragon with monkey, 1525,
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Horenbout_Catherine_of_Aragon_with_.jpg
Catherine of Aragon, 1525
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Horenbout_Catherine_of_Aragon.jpg
Henry FitzRoy, illegitimate son of Henry VIII, painted 1534
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Horenbout_HenryFitzRoy.jpg
Jane Seymore, painted 1537
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Horenbout_Jane_Seymour.jpg
((All information taken from Wikipedia, all images are public domain and have expired copyrights))
By 1531 he was described as the "King's Painter", and this appointment was confirmed for life in June 1534, when he became a "denizen" - effectively a naturalised citizen. Horenbout was very well paid, at sixty-two pounds and ten shillings (but only thirty-three pounds and six shillings according to Richard Gay) per year, a "huge" sum according to Strong, and better than Holbein?s thirty pounds a year in his period as Henry's court painter.[ He was granted a "tenement" in Charing Cross, and permitted to take on four foreign journeyman. Lucas was buried at Saint Martin in the Fields and left a wife and daughter, Margaret and Jacquemine. Margaret was paid sixty shillings three years later by Queen Catherine Parr for some paintings.
He can be said to be the founder of the English school of portrait miniature painting, which begins suddenly at the time of his arrival in England, and had very few continental precedents, although three lost miniatures, possibly by Jean Clouet, sent from the French to the English court, may have inspired the new form. Horenbout later taught the art to Hans Holbein the Younger, also a court artist of Henry.
Twenty-three surviving portrait miniatures have usually been attributed to Horenbout in recent decades; all but one, a portrait of Holbein, are of members of the English or other royal families. Paintings of at least four of Henry's Queens are attributed to him. A high proportion of those capable of being dated come from the 1520s.
Portrait miniature of Henry VIII , 1525-26, by Lucas Horenbout, from a charter in the Fitzwilliam Museum; "one of the earliest, if not the earliest, surviving portrait miniature".
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Horenbout_HenryVIII.jpg
Miniature of Hans Holbein the Younger. 1543, Horenbout copied a self-portrait drawing to create the miniature. Horenbout's miniature of Holbein (1543) is among his most accomplished works, not least because he copies the face from a self portrait drawing by Holbein; his own drawing skills are not the strongest. This miniature was also nearly always regarded as a self-portrait, until recent technical examination made clear that the style of painting is actually very different from that of undoubted Holbein miniatures: there is "an absence of his subtle gradations of flesh tone and colour" and "no sign of the extremely thin pen-like lines which are so notable a feature in Holbein's drawing of such details as the embroidered edges of costume.?
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/HolbeindJbyHorenbout-1.jpg
Catherine of Aragon with monkey, 1525,
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Horenbout_Catherine_of_Aragon_with_.jpg
Catherine of Aragon, 1525
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Horenbout_Catherine_of_Aragon.jpg
Henry FitzRoy, illegitimate son of Henry VIII, painted 1534
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Horenbout_HenryFitzRoy.jpg
Jane Seymore, painted 1537
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Horenbout_Jane_Seymour.jpg
((All information taken from Wikipedia, all images are public domain and have expired copyrights))