The Story
Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell (c. 1520 – 4 July 1551) was an English nobleman. He was the only son of the Tudor statesman Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex (c. 1485 – 1540) and Elizabeth Wyckes (d. 1529). Gregory's father Thomas Cromwell rose from obscurity to become the chief minister of Henry VIII, who attempted to modernize government at the expense of the privileges of the nobility and church. He used his office to promote religious reform and was one of the strongest advocates of the English Reformation.
In 1537, Gregory married Elizabeth, Lady Ughtred, widow of Sir Anthony Ughtred, sister to Jane Seymour and therefore became brother-in-law to Henry VIII and uncle to Edward VI. Gregory survived the dramatic fall from royal favour and subsequent execution of his father in 1540, as well as the ousting of his brother-in-law and patron, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, in 1549. He became a wealthy landowner, owning land and property in several counties in England, mainly in Rutland and Leicestershire.
Executed in woodcut, measuring Sheet: 7 x 4.6 cm (2 3/4 x 1 13/16 in.), the surface rewards close looking. Hans Holbein the Younger builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
