Tate Britain is currently showing a major exhibition, ‘Holbein in England’, which includes the artist’s work from 1526-8 — the period of his first visit — and from 1532 to his death in 1543.
Holbein is the best known of many emigre artists and craftsmen who made their way to England during the period of the Reformation.
His time here covered the crucial period of Henry VIII’s divorce from Katherine of Aragon (the ‘King’s Great Matter’) and his subsequent marriages first to Anne Boleyn, then Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves.
