The Story
Sir Thomas More, 1600s. Follower of Hans Holbein the Younger (German, active England and Switzerland, 1497/98–1543). Oil on wood in a gilt wood frame; framed: 8.6 x 8.6 x 1.3 cm (3 3/8 x 3 3/8 x 1/2 in.); diameter: 6.5 cm (2 9/16 in.); unframed: 6.7 x 6.4 cm (2 5/8 x 2 1/2 in.); diameter of frame: 8 cm (3 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Edward B. Greene Collection, 1957.356
Created in 1600 during the Late Renaissance/Mannerism period, this work belongs firmly within the portrait tradition. Hans Holbein the Younger worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in oil on wood in a gilt wood frame, measuring Framed: 8.6 x 8.6 x 1.3 cm (3 3/8 x 3 3/8 x 1/2 in.); Diameter: 6.5 cm (2 9/16 in.); Unframed: 6.7 x 6.4 cm (2 5/8 x 2 1/2 in.); Diameter of frame: 8 cm (3 1/8 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.”
