Lady Rich (Elizabeth Jenks, died 1558)

Although initially thought to be Catherine of Aragon, the sitter in this portrait was correctly identified by both Woltmann (1867) and Wornum (1867) as Lady Rich. Their findings were based on the direct correlation of the portrait with a preliminary drawing by Holbein in the Royal Collection that is inscribed with Lady Rich's name. Born Elizabeth Jenks, she was the daughter of a well-to-do London spice merchant. In 1535 she married Richard Rich, with whom she had at least twelve children. Rich served as solicitor general in 1533, ascended to the nobility as the first Baron Rich in 1548, and became lord chancellor in the same year. An opportunistic lawyer, he rose in prominence at Henry VIII's court through a privileged relationship with Thomas Cromwell. Later on, through his treachery, he ensured the demise of a number of leading political and religious figures, including Cromwell, Thomas More, and Bishop Fisher. Lady Rich, who died in 1588, outlived her husband by more than twenty years.

Holbein's preparatory drawings on paper for pendant portraits of the Riches are preserved at Windsor Castle. The corresponding paintings presumably once existed, although none of Sir Richard has survived, and the two remaining of Lady Rich arguably do not exhibit the artist's typically refined handling and execution, but are instead workshop copies. The Museum's painting was regarded as by Holbein's own hand until Ganz cast doubt on its authorship in 1937; he maintained that opinion when another, in his view autograph, version surfaced the following year. Harry Wehle had the opportunity in 1940 to study the Museum's painting and the second version (then at the Schaeffer Galleries, New York) side by side and concluded (unpublished opinion, departmental archives) that both were copies of a lost original and were of comparable quality. This opinion gained widespread support and has been maintained to this day.

More recently, the ex-Schaeffer version has resurfaced as part of the Georg Schäfer collection (Schweinfurt, Germany). Technical comparisons of this portrait with The Met's work indicated that the two share many features: their oak supports are almost exactly the same size, and the paintings employ similar materials and techniques. Their underdrawings both reveal signs that the main contours and features of the head and upper torso were transferred from a preliminary drawing on paper. A Mylar photostat overlay of the Windsor Castle drawing of Lady Rich corresponds closely with the underdrawing found on The Met's panel, indicating that Holbein's drawing was available to the artist who executed this portrait. The contours of the forms in the drawing that were gone over with a stylus correspond directly to those lines in the underdrawing that were reinforced with pen or brush and ink.

The two portraits of Lady Rich are among several examples for which the design was clearly based on an autograph drawing by Holbein, but the painting was executed by a follower working in the artist's immediate environment. These works support the theory that a Holbein workshop in some form must have existed. Even though guild regulations prohibited foreign aritsts in London from having their own workshops or assistants, it is possible that those working at the court of Henry VIII were not subjected to such rules. In light of these observations, this portrait, like the version in the Schäfer collection, can be attributed to an anonymous member of a putative Holbein workshop.

Although not by Holbein, this painting clearly dates from the artist's second English period (1532–43) at the earliest. The marriage of Elizabeth Jenks to Richard Rich in 1535 may well have provided an occasion for the commission of a portrait pair and later copies of it. The costume indicates a date of about 1540, which places the stylistic restraint and somber palette of the portrait in line with similar works from the same time, including the late portraits of Lady Lee (The Met 14.40.637), Lady Vaux (Royal Collection, Hampton Court Palace), and Lady Butts (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston).

[2013; adapted from Ainsworth in Ainsworth and Waterman 2013]

The panel support is composed of two boards of Baltic oak, with the grain oriented vertically. Dendrochronological analysis indicated an earliest possible fabrication date of 1470. It is possible that the panel has been trimmed slightly, for the paint is chipped and passages have been restored along the edges. A cradle has been attached to the verso.


The panel was prepared with a white ground and a thin pink priming. X-radiography (see fig. 1 above) showed that the priming contains lead white. Infrared reflectography revealed underdrawing, derived from a tracing and executed in a liquid medium, that describes the contours of the head, cap, shirt, collar, and bodice edge. Contour underdrawing of facial features, visible with infrared reflectography (figs. 2–3) as well as in normal light, included the earlobe, jaw, chin, mouth, nose, eyes, eyebrows, and hairline. Infrared reflectography also revealed that the hand was painted larger than the area left in reserve.


Widespread abrasion makes it difficult to assess the quality of the original. The background, originally a vibrant greenish blue, is concealed by dull green restoration paint that exhibits drying cracks throughout. Other areas that have been extensively restored include the cap, the jacket and headdress, and portions of the index and middle fingers. The face appears almost completely flat, and the remaining modeling has been reinforced with restoration. The final modeling on the white cuff has been completely removed. A hint of the original pinkish lip color is visible with magnification. There are small losses along the panel join.


The ring and the large, round brooch were made with oil gilding, applied to an off-white mordant and then enhanced with glazes. In both, the original gold is damaged and has been restored with gold restoration paint. The brownish red glazes used to depict the scene on the brooch are severely abraded and have been restored. The original red stone set in the center of the ring is damaged and partially concealed by black restoration paint.


[2013; adapted from German Paintings catalogue]

Rt. Rev. Herbert Croft, Bishop of Hereford, Croft Castle, Herefordshire (until d. 1691); Sir Herbert Croft, 1st Baronet, Croft Castle (1691–d. 1720); Sir Archer Croft, 2nd Baronet, Croft Castle (1720–d. 1753); Sir Archer Croft, 3rd Baronet, Croft Castle (1753–d. 1792); his cousin, Walter Michael Moseley, Buildwas Abbey, Iron Bridge, Salop, Shropshire (1792–d. 1827); Walter Moseley, Buildwas Abbey (1827–d. 1850); Walter Moseley, Buildwas Abbey (1850–d. 1887); his nephew, Captain Herbert Richard Moseley, Buildwas Abbey (1887–1912; sold to Duveen); [Duveen, London and New York, 1912; sold for $205,000 to Altman]; Benjamin Altman, New York (1912–d. 1913)

London. South Kensington Museum. "National Portraits," April 1866, no. 74 (as "Queen Katharine of Arragon," by Holbein, lent by Mr. Walter Moseley).

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT, BY TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART.

Catalogue of the First Special Exhibition of National Portraits Ending with the Reign of King James the Second. Exh. cat., South Kensington Museum. London, 1866, pp. 14–15, no. 74, attributes it to Holbein; identifies the sitter as Catherine of Aragon, noting that she is called Lady Rich in Holbein's related drawing in the Royal Collection.

Ralph Nicholson Wornum. Some Account of the Life and Works of Hans Holbein, Painter, of Augsburg. London, 1867, pp. 296–97, 412, attributes it to Holbein, states that it was made from the Windsor drawing, and identifies the sitter as Lady Rich; notes that it was formerly at Croft castle.

Alfred Woltmann. Holbein und seine Zeit. Vol. 2, Leipzig, 1868, pp. 288–89, calls it a splendid work by Holbein, although it has suffered much damage.

Alfred Woltmann. Holbein and his Time. London, 1872, p. 402.

Alfred Woltmann. Holbein und seine Zeit. Vol. [1], Des Kunstlers Familie, Leben und Schaffen. 2nd rev. ed. Leipzig, 1874, p. 425.

Alfred Woltmann. Holbein und seine Zeit. Vol. 2, Excurse, Beilagen, Verzeichnisse der Werke von Hans Holbein d. Ä., Ambrosius Holbein, Hans Holbein d. J.. 2nd rev. ed. Leipzig, 1876, p. 121, no. 128.

L[ionel]. C[ust]. in Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. Sidney Lee. Vol. 27, New York, 1891, p. 109, lists the portrait, then at Buildwas Park, along with other works from the second stay in England; seems to indicate a dating after 1539.

François Benoit. Holbein. Paris, [1905], p. 158.

Paul Ganz. Die Handzeichnungen Hans Holbeins des Jüngeren. Lieferung 26–30, Berlin, [1911–26], unpaginated, under no. XXVII9, calls the Windsor drawing a study for this painting; assigns it to Holbein's second English period.

Max J. Friedländer. Letter to Duveen. October 8, 1912, calls it the original version, "one of the finest works by Hans Holbein in his mature English period, executed about 1536".

"Another Old Master for America." Morning Post [London] (May 23, 1912), p. ?, regret the loss of this picture to an American collector.

"The Benjamin Altman Bequest." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 8 (November 1913), p. 237.

Arthur B. Chamberlain. Hans Holbein the Younger. London, 1913, vol. 2, p. 212, dates it to Holbein's last years and provides provenance information; calls the Windsor drawing a "fine preliminary drawing" for this picture; states that the medallion worn by the sitter depicts a man and woman standing over a corpse; mentions the drawing of the sitter's husband at Windsor, stating that Holbein must have painted his portrait but that all traces of it are lost, and that a version of it was destroyed in a fire at Knepp Castle in 1904.

Handbook of the Benjamin Altman Collection. New York, 1914, pp. 55–56, no. 35, dates it about 1536, shortly after the sitter's marriage.

Seymour de Ricci. "Benjamin Altman." Revue archéologique, 4th ser., 23 (1914), p. 107.

Paul Ganz. Les dessins de Hans Holbein le jeune. Vol. 6, Geneva, [1921?–26], unpaginated, under no. XXVII9, calls the Windsor drawing a study for this painting.

François Monod. "La galerie Altman au Metropolitan Museum de New-York (1er article)." Gazette des beaux-arts, 5th ser., 8 (September–October 1923), pp. 197–98, ill., dates it about 1540.

Malcolm Vaughan. "Holbein Portraits in America—Part II." International Studio 88 (December 1927), p. 94, ill. p. 68, calls it "probably one of the last portraits completed by Holbein".

Handbook of the Benjamin Altman Collection. 2nd ed. New York, 1928, pp. 32–33, no. 8.

Wilhelm Stein. Holbein. Berlin, 1929, pp. 302, 305, dates it after 1540.

Hans Tietze. Meisterwerke europäischer Malerei in Amerika. Vienna, 1935, p. 339, pl. 214 [English ed., "Masterpieces of European Painting in America," New York, 1939, p. 324, pl. 214], dates it about 1540.

Charles L. Kuhn. A Catalogue of German Paintings of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in American Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1936, p. 84, no. 375, pl. LXXIX, dates it after 1540.

Paul Ganz. Die Handzeichnungen Hans Holbeins d.J.: Kritischer Katalog. Berlin, 1937, p. 18, under no. 76, refers to the Windsor drawing as the study for a portrait known through two copies, both formerly in the Croft collection: the MMA picture and a second work in a private collection in America; states that the medallion depicts a mythological scene and is based on a design by Holbein.

Katherine Morris Lester and Bess Viola Oerke. An Illustrated History of Those Frills and Furbelows of Fashion Which Have Come to be Known as Accessories of Dress. Peoria, Ill., 1940, p. 25, 2004].

Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941, unpaginated, no. 221, ill., dates it about 1536.

K. T. Parker. The Drawings of Hans Holbein in the Collection of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle. London, 1945, p. 51, under no. 55, fig. XXI, calls it "almost certainly a copy"; attributes the Windsor drawing to Holbein, although referring to the penwork as "rather coarse and fumbling".

Harry B. Wehle and Margaretta Salinger. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Early Flemish, Dutch and German Paintings. New York, 1947, pp. 221–22, ill., state that "the painting reflects Holbein's ultimate style, about 1540–43" and suggest that both versions of the composition are based on a lost original.

Millia Davenport. The Book of Costume. New York, 1948, vol. 1, p. 433, no. 1160, ill.

Heinrich Alfred Schmid. Hans Holbein der Jüngere: Sein Aufstieg zur Meisterschaft und sein englischer Stil. Vol. 1–2, Basel, 1948, vol. 2, p. 378, states that it is considered at least the copy of a Holbein painting.

Julius S. Held. "Book Reviews: Harry B. Wehle and Margaretta M. Salinger . . ., 1947." Art Bulletin 31 (June 1949), p. 140.

Paul Ganz. The Paintings of Hans Holbein. London, 1950, p. 254, under no. 117, refers to it as "the second version" of the original in Basel, noting that x-rays confirm the latter's authenticity; describes the medallion in the Basel version as "a group of men in front of a woman lying dead on the ground" and as "certainly designed by Holbein".

Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 47.

Francis Haskell. "The Benjamin Altman Bequest." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3 (1970), p. 279, based on letters in the Duveen files, asserts that Altman "seems to have acquired this portrait partly because Frick had bought the Thomas More" [now in Frick Collection, New York]; adds that shortly before his death Altman told Duveen that he was thinking of selling this portrait.

Hans Werner Grohn in L'opera pittorica completa di Holbein il Giovane. Milan, 1971, p. 107, under no. 125, mentions that Winkler shares Ganz's opinion that the Basel version is the original by Holbein.

Edward Fowles. Memories of Duveen Brothers. London, 1976, p. 77, states that Altman wrote to Duveen shortly before his death asking the dealer to take back this picture, which he had bought some months earlier.

Holbein and the Court of Henry VIII. Exh. cat., Buckingham Palace, The Queen's Gallery. [London], 1978, p. 116, under no. 76, refers to it as "a later version" of the painting made after the Windsor drawing; states that the subject of the medallion worn by the sitter is unidentifiable.

K. T. Parker with an appendix by Susan Foister in The Drawings of Hans Holbein in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle. London, 1983, p. 51, under no. 55, fig. XXI, repeats text of Ref. Parker 1945.

Susan Foister. Drawings by Holbein from the Royal Library Windsor Castle. London, 1983, pp. 21, 36, 44, fig. 38, calls the MMA and Basel pictures copies after a painted version of the Windsor drawing.

John Rowlands. Holbein: The Paintings of Hans Holbein the Younger. Oxford, 1985, p. 234, no. R. 26(b), pl. 236, includes both this work and the Basel version among paintings by Holbein's followers, and suggests that they were executed after the Windsor drawing at about the same time; finds it doubtful that an original painting by Holbein ever existed; locates the Basel version in a private collection in West Germany and calls it "of better quality [than the MMA work] but clearly not fine enough for Holbein".

Jane Roberts. Drawings by Holbein from the Court of Henry VIII. Exh. cat., Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. [New York], 1988, pp. 98, 110, ill., attributes it to an anonymous artist after Holbein and calls both the MMA and Basel versions probably studio works; states that the subject of the medallion worn by the sitter is unidentified and relates it to one depicted in the drawing of Mary Zouche (no. 31); quotes from a technical examination of the picture by Maryan Ainsworth, who finds that the underdrawing of the painting corresponds more closely to the Windsor drawing than to the finished painting.

Maryan Ainsworth. "'Paternes for phiosioneamyes': Holbein's Portraiture Reconsidered." Burlington Magazine 132 (March 1990), p. 183, figs. 24 (detail, infrared reflectogram computer assembly), 25, attributes it to Holbein's workshop, noting an exact correspondence between the contours of the Windsor drawing and the MMA painting, and a direct relationship between the drawing itself and the underdrawing of the painting, indicating that the painter had direct access to the master's drawing; believes that there was probably an independent drawing for the medallion.

Maryan W. Ainsworth. "Methods of Copying in the Portraiture of Hans Holbein the Younger." Le dessin sous-jacent dans la peinture. Ed. Hélène Verougstraete-Marcq and Roger van Schoute. Colloque 8, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1991, p. 12, pls. 1, 3 (detail, infrared reflectogram computer assembly).

Jane Roberts. Holbein and the Court of Henry VIII: Drawings and Miniatures from The Royal Library, Windsor Castle. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Scotland. Edinburgh, 1993, p. 78.

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 227, ill.

Meryle Secrest. Duveen: A Life in Art. New York, 2004, p. 449.

Susan Foister. Holbein and England. New Haven, 2004, pp. 69, 227, 232.

Peter Klein. Letter to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. April 24, 2006, identifies the wood from which the panel is made as two oak boards, originating from the Baltic region; writes that dendrochronological analysis reveals that the earliest felling date for the tree from which this panel is made is 1468, adding that a minimum of two years for seasoning means that the earliest possible execution date for the painting is 1470.

Maryan W. Ainsworth in Maryan W. Ainsworth and Joshua P. Waterman. German Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1350–1600. New Haven, 2013, pp. 149–52, 304–5, no. 35, ill. (color) and fig. 127 (infrared reflectogram detail).

Old Master & British Paintings: Evening Sale. Christie's, London. July 8, 2014, p. 180, under no. 52.

Old Master & British Paintings. Christie's, London. December 9, 2015, p. 50, under no. 140.

Old Masters: Day Sale. Christie's, London. July 7, 2017, p. 84, under no. 163.

This work may not be lent, by terms of its acquisition by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.