In the Tudor Era, miniatures were private images, meant to be shared with intimate friends. They were often exchanged, and often worn on chains or hung from brooches.This miniature is painted after a small painting which provides us with the only complete record of Hans Holbein's great wall painting at Whitehall Palace which was destroyed by fire in 1698. The copy was made for Charles II by a Flemish painter, Van Leemput, whose cheif talent, it seems, lay in the copying of other artist's works.
The miniature, painted in the traditional style using traditional materials arrives in a 2.5" diameter gold-metal round frame with a pendant loop.
