[After Hans Holbein]
[n.d. c.1750.]
Mezzotint 90 x 120mm, 3½ x 4½inches. Mounted into an album page.
Facing to right in biretta and robe with buttons down front. Wolsey was a cardinal and statesman, Henry VIII's lord chancellor and one of the last churchmen to play a dominant role in English political life. Wolsey's unparalleled position of trust with the King began to break down in the late 1520s but before he fell from favour Henry VIII stripped him of all his assets in the south of England, including the Archbishop's town house, York Place. Of the Cardinal's possessions York Place was the most important to the King, because the old royal palace at Westminster had been largely destroyed by fire in 1512 and Henry had been staying at Lambeth Palace as a substitute. The acquisition of York Place, renamed Whitehall, meant that the monarchy once more had an appropriate residence in Westminster. A drawing by Andrew Benjamin Lens [BM:Prints & Drawings.Regi. No.Gg,1.410] recorded as after Holbein is the same subject as ref: 13736 & 13737.
BM:P&D:1853,0112.1628.
[Ref: 13736]  £260.00