''Sir Thomas More and Family'' is a lost painting by Hans Holbein the Younger, painted circa 1527 and known from a number of surviving copies. The original was destroyed in 1752 in a fire at Schloss Kremsier ( Kroměříž Castle), the Moravian residence of Carl von Liechtenstein, archbishop of Olmutz. A study by Holbein for the painting survives in the

Kunstmuseum Basel The Kunstmuseum Basel houses the oldest public art collection in the world and is generally considered to be the most important museum of art in Switzerland. It is listed as a heritage site of national significance. Its lineage extends back to ...

(Öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Kupferstichkabinett Inv. 1662.31). The work is also preserved in a number of sixteenth-century versions by

Rowland Lockey Rowland Lockey (c. 1565–1616) was an English painter and goldsmith, and was the son of Leonard Lockey,Lewis, p. 8-9 a crossbow maker of the parish of St Bride's, Fleet Street, London. Lockey was apprenticed to Queen Elizabeth's miniaturi ...

, including those in

Nostell Priory Nostell Priory is a Palladian house in Nostell, West Yorkshire, England, near Crofton on the road to Doncaster from Wakefield. It dates from 1733, and was built for the Winn family on the site of a medieval priory. The Priory and its contents ...

and the National Portrait Gallery (formerly part of the

Lenthall pictures The Lenthall pictures were a number of paintings owned by the Lenthall family and housed at Burford Priory. The collection was publicly commented on by art historians and tourists. It was largely dispersed in two sales in 1808 and 1833, although s ...

). Strong calls it "arguably the greatest and most innovative work of his English period" and "the earliest portrait conversation piece in English painting, at least a century ahead of its time" and asserts that "its destruction means we lost the greatest single visual artefact to epitomize the aims and ideals of the early Renaissance in England."

NPG version

''Sir Thomas More and Family'' in the National Portrait Gallery is a painting that was once part of the

.The English Counties Delineated, Volume 2, Thomas Moule, 1837
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The picture

''Sir Thomas More and Family'' is one of two near life-size copies by

of an original by Holbein that was lost in a fire in the 18th century. It is dated 1593; Holbein died in 1554. It is oil on canvas and measures by . It was probably commissioned by More's grandson, Thomas More II, to commemorate five generations of the family. The National Portrait Gallery lists the sitters as: *Elizabeth Dauncey (née More) (1506–1564), Second daughter of Sir Thomas More. *Cecily Heron (née More) (born 1507–?), Youngest daughter of Sir Thomas More. *Anne More (née Cresacre) (1511–1577), Wife of John More, son of Sir Thomas More. *Cresacre More (1572–1649), Great-grandson and biographer of Sir Thomas More. * Sir John More (circa 1451–1530), Judge; father of Sir Thomas More. *John More (1510–1547), Son of Sir Thomas More. *John More (1557–1599?), Eldest son of Thomas More II. *Maria More (née Scrope) (1534–1607), Wife of Thomas More II. * Sir Thomas More (1478–1535). *Thomas More II (1531–1606), Grandson of Sir Thomas More. *

Margaret Roper Margaret Roper (1505–1544) was an English writer and translator. Roper, the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas More, is considered to have been one of the most learned women in sixteenth-century England. She is celebrated for her filial piety and sch ...

(1505–1544), Daughter of Sir Thomas More. The copy from the Lenthall collection has been described as “the most accomplished extant version”. The surviving drawing by Holbein confirms the general accuracy of the picture.

Provenance

The painting had been at Gubbins in Hertfordshire. At some time it came into the possession of the Lenthall family, but how this happened is not known, although it may have been borrowed from the More family and never returned. In the 17th century,

John Aubrey John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the '' Brief Lives'', his collection of short biographical pieces. He was a pioneer archaeologist ...

viewed it at the Besselsleigh home of Sir John Lenthall, but by 1727 it was at

Burford Priory Burford Priory is a Grade I listed country house and former priory at Burford in West Oxfordshire, England owned by Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of Rupert Murdoch, together with Matthew Freud. History Origin The house is on the site of a 13th- ...

. It was discussed in detail by John Loveday who saw it in 1736. The painting was unsold in a small sale of the Lenthall pictures in 1808 but was offered again and sold in a major sale in 1833. It was subsequently owned by Walter Strickland, CW Dormer,

Sir Hugh Lane Sir Hugh Percy Lane (9 November 1875 – 7 May 1915) was an Irish art dealer, collector and gallery director. He is best known for establishing Dublin's Municipal Gallery of Modern Art (the first known public gallery of modern art in the ...

, Viscount Lee, and EJ Horniman whose widow bequeathed it to the National Portrait Gallery where it remains. It was the centre piece in the exhibition, ''The King's Good Servant'', at the National Portrait Gallery in 1977.

Nostell Priory version

The version at Nostell Priory is described as "the only faithful, same-size representation of the lost original" and is inscribed “Rolandus Lockey/fecit a.d." dated 1592. Regarding the Nostell version of ''Thomas More and his family'', it is unclear who the artist was, who commissioned it or who originally owned it. A radiocarbon dating test was carried out on 1982 which concluded the flax to be no later than 1520. For this reason, it is highly likely that it predates the NPG Roland Lockey version of 1593. Lockey was known as an excellent copyist, but his sitters' faces are lacking subtle character details. Those of the Nostell version—which includes all the sitters—closely resemble the heads of the original Holbein study now preserved in Windsor Castle. The Holbein head studies were acquired by Lord Arundel when he cleared out Holbein's workshop in 1546. It was Lord Arundel's family who later sold the original lost Holbein in 1654, but how they obtained it is unclear. The art connoisseur of the period Van Mander records that a life-sized portrait by Holbein of Thomas More and his family was owned by Andries de Loo, an avid Holbein collector. He records also that a member of the More family on de Loos's death purchased this same portrait

590 __NOTOC__ Year 590 ( DXC) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 590 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era bec ...

This story is also confirmed by the art historian George Virtue, recorded in 1731, referring to the portrait now identified as the Nostell version. This makes sense if there were in fact two versions done by Holbein. The book above Judge John More's right shoulder is Boethius’s ''Consolation of Philosophy'' in which the story parallels Thomas More's arrest and execution, suggesting that the Nostell version reflects More's execution in 1535. It could just be that Holbein was asked by Thomas Cromwell to make a propaganda piece to go with the Great Bible of 1538, Thomas More representing the old order and Cromwell the new.

Other versions

A cabinet miniature version of this portrait c. 1594 with different details, also likely to be by Lockey, is in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

.* Strong, Roy (1969). ''The English Icon: Elizabethan and Jacobean Portraiture'', London, Routledge & Kegan Paul p. 255. Two further copies of the Holbein, at old

Chelsea Town Hall Chelsea Town Hall is a municipal building in King's Road, Chelsea, London. The oldest part is a Grade II* listed building and the later part is Grade II listed. History The building was commissioned to replace a mid-19th-century vestry hall on ...

(formerly one of the Petre Pictures) and Hendred House, East Hendred, may be by Lockey, but are too damaged and over-painted for any certainty to be possible.

Cultural influences

The painting is described in ''

Wolf Hall ''Wolf Hall'' is a 2009 historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, published by Fourth Estate, named after the Seymour family's seat of Wolfhall, or Wulfhall, in Wiltshire. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, ''Wolf Hall'' is a symp ...

'', a historical novel by

Hilary Mantel Dame Hilary Mary Mantel ( ; born Thompson; 6 July 1952 – 22 September 2022) was a British writer whose work includes historical fiction, personal memoirs and short stories. Her first published novel, '' Every Day Is Mother's Day'', was relea ...

about the rise to power of

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false char ...

that won the 2009 Man Booker Prize:

References

{{Hans Holbein the Younger 1520s paintings

More More or Mores may refer to: Computing * MORE (application), outline software for Mac OS * more (command), a shell command * MORE protocol, a routing protocol * Missouri Research and Education Network Music Albums * ''More!'' (album), by Booka S ...

English paintings More family Lost paintings Paintings in the National Portrait Gallery, London Paintings in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum