Dimensions
129 x 198 x 32mm
The year is 1526. Hans Holbein is at the beginning of his remarkable career when he travels to England, under the recommendation of the great Erasmus, to stay with Sir Thomas More. As a guest in the splendid More household in Chelsea, Holbein begins to paint their first family portrait. Little could he know that in a few short years the family, Tudor society and England itself would have changed beyond recognition. Hans Holbein was at the beginning of his career when he started that first family portrait and famous by the time he painted the full group, while Thomas More's career travelled from favoured and famous courtier to disgraced solitary.
Of the many distinguished astrologers, artists, philosophers and men of religion who visit the great house, two men find themselves irresistibly attracted to More's foster daughter, Meg. One of them is John Clement –– dark, tall, elegant –– a man of compelling presence and mysterious background. The other is Holbein himself –– warm, ebullient, radical and foreign. Meg will find herself powerfully drawn to these two wildly contrasting men. She will love one, and marry the other.
Vanora Bennett has created a wonderful, rich novel, presenting the atmosphere of this Tudor household as rarely achieved, with an astounding ability to present to us the world of Holbein's paintings as well as a gallery of vividly realised characters.
