Lucas Horenbout, often called Hornebolte in England ( 1490/1495–1544), was a

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

artist who moved to England in the mid-1520s and worked there as "King's Painter" and court miniaturist to

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

from 1525 until his death. He was trained in the final phase of Netherlandish

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, th ...

painting, in which his father Gerard was an important figure, and was the founding painter of the long and distinct English tradition of

portrait miniature A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

painting. He has been suggested as the Master of the Cast Shadow Workshop, who produced royal portraits on panel in the 1520s or 1530s.

Life and family

Horenbout was born in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

, where he trained with his father,

Gerard Horenbout Gerard Horenbout (c. 1465–c. 1541) was a Flemish miniaturist, a late example of the miniature tradition in Early Netherlandish painting. He is "likely and widely accepted" to be the Master of James IV of Scotland. Biography Horenbout lived a ...

, becoming a Master of the local

Guild of Saint Luke The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was iden ...

in 1512. Gerard was an important Flemish manuscript illuminator in the dying days of that art-form, who had been

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

, from 1515 to about 1522, to Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands. Margaret was twice sister-in-law to

Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until their annulment on 23 May 1533. She was previously ...

, still Henry's (first) Queen when the Horenbouts came to England. Gerard is sometimes identified with the "

Master of James IV of Scotland __NOTOC__ The Master of James IV of Scotland (''fl.'' ca. 1485 – ca. 1526) was a Flemish manuscript illuminator and painter most likely based in Ghent, or perhaps Bruges. Circumstantial evidence, including several larger panel paintings, ...

", one of the many artistic personalities identified as a significant illuminator in the

Ghent-Bruges school The Ghent-Bruges School is a manner or movement of manuscript illumination from about 1475 to about 1550 that developed in southern Netherlands, now Belgium. The term was first used in 1891 by Joseph Destree, author of ''Recherches sur les elumine ...

of the period, to whom no historical person can be attached. Horenbout came over to England at an unknown date with, or perhaps before, his sister

Susannah Hornebolt Susanna(h) Hornebolt or Horenbout (1503–c.1554) was the first known female artist in England
HistoryofWomen.org (H ...

and his father. It has been suggested that their move was in connection with an attempt by the King, or possibly

Cardinal Wolsey Thomas Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic bishop. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figur ...

, to revive English manuscript illumination by establishing a workshop in London, but this is controversial. In about 1525 he married

Margaret Holsewyther Margaret Holsewyther (born c. 1504 - died after 1560) was an English miniaturist employed by Tudor monarchs. Her husbands were paid for her work making the provenance of her work difficult to ascertain. She was working over the reigns of four mona ...

who was an artist of German descent who had probably been born in England. His father Gerard is first recorded in England in 1528, and later returned to the Continent, probably after 1531; he had died in Ghent by 1540. Susanna, who was also an illuminator, is recorded in 1529 as married to a John Palmer and in England. Lucas is documented in England from September 1525, when he was first paid by the King as "pictor maker". 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

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence ...

s 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.Gay op cit, p.434 He was granted a "tenement" in

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City ...

, and permitted to take on four foreign journeyman. Lucas died in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and was buried at

Saint Martin in the Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the medi ...

and left a wife and daughter, Margaret and Jacquemine. Margaret's sales included being paid sixty shillings three years later by Queen

Catherine Parr Catherine Parr (sometimes alternatively spelled Katherine, Katheryn, Kateryn, or Katharine; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until ...

for some paintings. Margaret is credited with a number of paintings during his lifetime and one of Catherine Parr was attributed to him but it was painted after his death. He had left his studio to be unequally divided between his wife and his daughter. For many years his studio was paid by Catherine Parr for miniatures that his wife presumably created.

Work

He can be said to be the founder of the English school of

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 Jean (or Janet) Clouet (1480–1541) was a miniaturist and painter who worked in France during the High Renaissance. He was the father of François Clouet. Biography The authentic presence of this artist at the French court is first mentione ...

, sent from the French to the English court, may have inspired the new form. Horenbout later taught the art of illumination to

Hans Holbein the Younger Hans Holbein the Younger ( , ; german: Hans Holbein der Jüngere; – between 7 October and 29 November 1543) was a German-Swiss painter and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style, and is considered one of the greatest por ...

, also a court artist of Henry, at least according to

Karel van Mander Karel van Mander (I) or Carel van Mander I (May 1548 – 2 September 1606) was a Flemish painter, poet, art historian and art theoretician, who established himself in the Dutch Republic in the latter part of his life. He is mainly remembere ...

who refers to a "Lucas", assumed to be Horenbout. However, this has been doubted. 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. Horenbout's miniature of Holbein (1543) is among his most accomplished works, not least because he copies the face from a

self-portrait A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century tha ...

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". There are two versions attributed to Horenbout, of which the better is in the Wallace Collection It may be a memorial portrait, painted in the six months interval between the death of Holbein and that of Horenbout. He is recorded as working in other forms, probably including panel paintings, woodcuts and decorations for festivities, but there are no certain survivals from these, except for illuminations on documents.

Roy Strong Sir Roy Colin Strong, (born 23 August 1935) is an English art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and landscape designer. He has served as director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. ...

linked Horenbout with an artist known only as the Master of the "Cast Shadow Workshop", who produced a series of rather undistinguished portraits mostly of English monarchs past and present, presumably working for the King. Illuminated decorations on some charters, Acts and similar royal documents are also attributed to him, and an illuminated manuscript with two elaborate full-page miniatures at

Hatfield House Hatfield House is a country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house, a leading example of the prodigy house, was built in 1611 by Robert Cec ...

has been attributed to him or his sister. More tentatively, some illuminations from the major ''

Sforza Hours The Sforza Hours (British Library, London, Add. MS 34294), is a richly illuminated book of hours initiated by Bona Sforza, widow of Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan, around 1490, who commissioned the illuminator . The book remained in an unfinished ...

'' have been attributed to one of the two. Unlike that of

Levina Teerlinc Levina Teerlinc (1510s – 23 June 1576) was a Flemish Renaissance miniaturist who served as a painter to the English court of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I. She was the most important miniaturist at the English court betw ...

a generation later, Susanna's oeuvre, and that of another brother, remains obscure, although

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

records buying a miniature by her in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

in May 1521. Fine illuminations in a collection of works by

John Lydgate John Lydgate of Bury (c. 1370 – c. 1451) was an English monk and poet, born in Lidgate, near Haverhill, Suffolk, England. Lydgate's poetic output is prodigious, amounting, at a conservative count, to about 145,000 lines. He explored and estab ...

(

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

) and the

Letters Patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, tit ...

for

Cardinal College Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

(

Public Record Office The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as ''the'' PRO), Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was ...

's foundation in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, renamed Christ Church after his fall, are attributed to one or more of Gerard, Lucas and Susanna, without specifying which one or ones.T Kren & S McKendrick op cit, Nos. 130 & 131, p.431-3

Gallery

Image:Horenbout Catherine of Aragon with a monkey.jpg, Catherine of Aragon with a monkey, 1525–26 Image:Horenbout Catherine of Aragon.jpg,

, 1525–26 Image:Horenbout HenryFitzRoy.jpg,

Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, (15 June 1519 – 23 July 1536), was the son of King Henry VIII of England and his mistress, Elizabeth Blount, and the only child born out of wedlock whom Henry VIII acknowledged. He was the ...

, Henry VIII's illegitimate son, 1534-5 Image:Horenbout Jane Seymour.jpg,

Jane Seymour Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne ...

, 1536–37

Notes

References

*T Kren & S McKendrick (eds),''Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe'', Getty Museum/Royal Academy of Arts, 2003, * Strong, Roy: ''Artists of the Tudor Court: The Portrait Miniature Rediscovered 1520-1620'', Victoria & Albert Museum exhibit catalogue, 1983, (1983a) (includes twenty works attributed to Horenbout or the Cast Shadow Workshop). * Strong, Roy: ''The English Renaissance Miniature'', Thames and Hudson, 1983, (1983b) *Reynolds, Graham, ''Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Miniatures'', 1980, Wallace Collection, London (1980) *Reynolds, Graham; ''The Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen'', Royal Collection Publications Ltd; 2006; (2006) *Rowlands, John. ''Holbein: The Paintings of Hans Holbein the Younger.'' Boston: David R. Godine, 1985. *van Elslande R.D.A. & A.H.J. de Kraker, De familie Horenbault: renaissancekunstenaars en cartografen te Gent en daarbuiten (ca. 1460 tot ca. 1630), in: Jaarboek 2004-2006 Oudheidkundige Kring "De Vier Ambachten", Hulst 2007, blz. 7–172.

External links