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ans as monolithic even given the continuing prevalence of a breastfeeding culture in 16 th century italy and the increased effort to underscore the sacred significance of the virgin mary to the catholic church in the wake of the protestant reformation that particular representation becomes infrequent what might have been the changing understanding of such an image leo steinberg has argued that even armed with a background in iconography our post modern preconceptions and readings of images can cause us to miss important telling features of early modern art in the sexuality of christ in renaissance art and in modern oblivion steinberg zestfully discusses for example how modern critics have either misunderstood or ignored the common presence of baby jesus erect penis according to steinberg this literal ignorance has led to modern obliviousness to an important theological message of such images the centrality of the theology of the incarnation i e the mystery of god s transformation into human flesh the shift in emphasis from christ s divinity to his humanity that is visible in the transition from the representation of the child as puer senex to the fleshy bambini of quattrocento florence for example raphael s sistine madonn a detail is underscored in steinberg s reading by the specific emphasis on the genitals as synecdoche for humanity or in steinberg s controversial term sexuality which he argues as that humanity s central attribute 3 leaving aside steinberg s accent on sexuality the visual emphasis on the embodied bambino gesu extends beyond the images in which a penis erect or otherwise is specifically represented to the lifelike and engaging madonnas and childs of a high renaissance artist such as raphael in whose works the affective intimacy of mother and baby draws attention simultaneously to the fact that child is both like and decidedly different from all other children 4 in the madonna of the chair for example the seated madonna tightly embraces the chubby toddler who seated on her lap faces her her encircling arms and their inclined bodies echoing the tondo format of the painting although jesus is looking directly at the viewer he draws back toward his mother his hand tucked beneath her shawl as she draws him close to protect him this naturalistic representation and developmentally appropriate behavior stranger anxiety underscores the shared humanity of mother and child even as it points to the shared suffering his choice of humanation will entail the same attention to like and unlike that is evident in the christening photo and even more so central to representations of both jesus and his mother in renaissance art is i will argue at the heart of hans holbein s portrait completed when the prince was just fourteen months old and presented to the child s father a little over a year after the mother s death from post childbirth complications like the baby in raphael s madonna of the chair this child s clear skin and round pink cheeks render him an exemplar of robust health at a time when infant mortality was a heart rending commonplace but infant mortality and lack of an heir of course have a special significance for the tudor family and for 16 th century england as indicated above even 21 st century viewers are aware that henry rid himself of his first two wives not to mention two others who failed to provide him with a son 16 th century viewers would have been painfully familiar with the details of the divorce the rupture with the catholic church the coronation and subsequent repudiation and beheading of anne boleyn and the concomitant bastardization of first mary and then elizabeth the birth of edward to henry s first true wife jane seymour despite her death twelve days later marked the clearly legitimate continuation of the tudor dynasty founded by the king s father henry vii in this portrait then edward may not be the son of god but he is the son of the head of god s church the king as evidenced by his garb and the clear allusions to holbein s own depictions of the boy s father a portrait of course is not a snapshot an exact and neutral reproduced likeness of a particular individual at a particular time rather it represents a series of choices based on the artist s abilities and predilections prevailing contemporary styles in artwork and the desire to conform with or to move away from them the patron s wishes and wallet ideological concerns and the intended purpose of the work 5 as we shall see for example whether or not we choose to view such paintings as part of a political program of propaganda as some have argued 6 portraits of henry viii would certainly have been designed to show his power prestige and wealth the way henry s broad shoulders extend beyond the frame of holbein s thyssen portrait 1534 39 is as much about henry s dominance and imperium as it is about his famous girth specific jewels or other accoutrements serve as markers of prestige and wealth and may also indicate the sitter s specific identity indeed sometimes a portrait might be created from clothing after a subject s death 7 although the prince s attire is frequently included in websites delineating the dress of 16 th century children his clothing should be considered as part of the construct of the portrait along with his health his pose and physical attributes rather than as a realistic depiction of the toddler edward tudor edward vi may or may not have been a sickly baby he was clearly in ill health as an adolescent and died at age 15 and perhaps did indeed walk before the age of one but those matters are not directly relevant to our understanding of this image which is a painting of edward as he never physically existed come hear dr klos speak on this topic at family politics in early modern england a symposium anatomy museum king s college london strand wc2r 2ls friday 15th november 2013 11 00 18 00 and saturday 16th november 2013 09 00 15 00 in order to grasp the complex messages conveyed in this painting of the son which i argue is designed to extoll the father s glory it is helpful to look first at holbein s depiction of that father most notably but not exclusively in the whitehall mural created in 1537 either shortly before or after edward s birth and jane seymour s death and originally located on a wall of the king s privy chamber in whitehall palace the painting itself was unfortunately destroyed by fire in 1698 and therefore only visible to us now through two copies made by remigius van leemput one commissioned in 1667 by king charles ii and one probably for the seymour family in 1669 as well as in a portion of holbein s life size cartoon now in the national portrait gallery 8 although aspects of the original are thus irrevocably lost its size disposition in the privy chamber other features of the room etc we can nevertheless consider what we do know about the organization and iconography of this image designed in susan foister s words to celebrate the tudor dynasty for posterity 9 and that included what has become an iconic representation of king henry himself along with depictions of his wife jane seymour modeled on the portrait now in vienna and of his parents henry vii and elizabeth of york henry viii after acquiring whitehall palace upon cardinal wolsey s fall from grace had immediately set to work to make it one of the grandest of his palaces but unfortunately neither the building nor most of the building accounts are extant 10 in attempting to reconstruct who would have had access to the privy chamber at the time of the mural s creation foister explains that the privy chamber was at the heart of a sequence of royal lodgings found in a number of tudor palaces leading from the public rooms the guard chamber and the presence chamber to the privy chamber and a sequence of private rooms the privy chamber thus occupied a pivotal role between the public and private arenas it was a room to which henry could retreat in private but in which he might also dine and receive select visitors 178 because at whitehall new construction allowed the king more privacy in rooms beyond the privy chamber it is likely foister posits that the privy chamber was more often used as a public room the most privileged space in which to meet the king 178 79 art historians generally concur that the ornate classicized setting of the mural would have fit the palace s decor equally significant in tatiana string s reading is the message that such a setting along with some of the mannerist features of the painting such as the elongations of henry s body would have conveyed to henry s visitors that the king was up to date with current trends suggesting comparisons with a rival such as francis i and plugged into the prestige and authority of antiquity henry is able to cast himself among the continental elite and to afford to do so 11 string s comments are helpful in understanding how the elements of contemporary continental painting deployed in this work placed in the relatively intimate and politically central location of the privy chamber underscore not just the artist s technique but both his own and the patron s place in an elite cultural milieu these underpinnings provide a frame from which to consider the mural s dynastic theme visually articulated in the four full body portraits of kings henry vii and viii presented opposite their wives elizabeth of york and jane seymour on either side of what appears to be a large stone altar although henry vii and elizabeth henry viii s parents stand on a ledge behind the younger couple the use of perspective is exaggerated rendering henry the dominant figure looming large in the foreground and dwarfing the figure of his tiny pale skinned wife standing demurely with hands folded although the altar s latin inscription discussed below poses the ostensibly unresolved question of whether father or son is pre eminent henry viii s position and stance with bent arms puffed sleeves and a voluminous cloak that almost extend beyond the picture frame infer the unsurpassable power of the reigning monarch across from the beloved consort who has borne or will bear finally his own legitimate male successor roy strong finds this henry both definitive and repulsive no one ever thinks of henry viii in any other way than as this gouty pig eyed pile of flesh whose astounding girth is only emphasized by the layers of slashed velvets and furs that encase him while the language is evocative and henry larger than life in his elaborate garb strong s reading seems inflected by retrospective knowledge along with the vision of charles laughton among others of henry s final years when the previously handsome and athletic king was virtually immobilized by leg ulcers compounded by obesity but even if the viewer shares strong s obvious distaste henry s bejeweled opulence should be read i would argue as a display of power and richesse while the details are not as clear in remigius copy henry s garments are related to those he sports in the thyssen portrait also by holbein made of cloth of gold and silver as in that image rubies fasten the slashes in his sleeves while a chain of gold including more rubies stretches across his neck the puffed sleeves and cloak emphasize the breadth of his shoulders but below the skirt of his doublet which is parted by his bulging codpiece his legs are elongated with the shapely well muscled calves of a dancer the splendors of his fashionable garments both draw attention to and are emphasized by henry s pose although his torso is slightly shifted to the left suggesting the mobility and action created by renaissance contraposto his feet are firmly planted in a sign of authority tatiana string points out that even dressed in courtly garb henry stands as would a man in armor with weight evenly distributed rather than shifted to one hip so that the pose conflates henry with the representation of military heroes thus conferring the resonance of this physical combative identity 146 in roy strong s reading his placement has a specific art historical reference as well henry s is the heroic pose evolved in 15 th century florence to represent figures of knightly triumph against tremendous often supernatural powers such as donatello s st george for example or perugino s st michael henry strong affirms joins them in the double role of imperator and chevalier 39 that duality is especially visible in the positioning of his hands with one reflecting a courtly role by holding a glove while the other reaches toward the short dagger that juts horizontally toward the stone altar with phallic effect the dynamism created by henry s bent armed pose is in marked contrast to the almost passive quality of the bent arms of the other three figures in the work where the women bring their hands together in a sedate and modest pose and the older king lounges nonchalantly with his elbow resting on the altar with or without armor the image of henry viii reflects power and masculinity the representation of henry viii in remigius copy of the finished wall painting differs in one notable respect from that in the cartoon rather than looking to one side he stares straight ahead a pose made famous in innumerable copies although it is unclear where exactly on the wall the image was located in the intimate space of the privy chamber 12 the perspective implies in foister s terms that henry looks out rather than down 13 his head would have directly faced the viewer his piercing eyes deliberately meeting our gaze with an impassive stare citing the words of a 16 th century ambassador strong declares that henry alone communicates with the onlooker and the effect on visitors was that they were abashed annihilated in the conventions of renaissance painting a direct look breaking the fourth wall of alberti s window onto nature is designed to draw the viewer into the world of the painting the baby jesus of ambrogio lorenzetti s madonna del latte for example invites us to join him in the eucharist symbolized by his suckling 14 but henry s gaze is especially arresting and unusual the fully frontal portrait is infrequent in 16 th century art a 1548 treatise by a portuguese humanist francisco de holanda describes such a portrait as graceless 15 and lorne campbell notes that the full face view can give the impression of so direct a confrontation that the spectator may feel uneasy 81 holbein subsequently used a frontal view presumably to render more honest his portraits of potential brides christina of denmark and anne of cleves but the shift from the slightly turned head found in both the cartoon and related portraiture of henry for example the thyssen portrait to the mural s direct stare renders the figure even more authoritative and imposing 16 henry is not just powerful but specifically masculine as evidenced by his pose his beard and his codpiece to which tatiana string argues our attention is specifically drawn by the painting s construction of two triangle...