Portrait of Thomas Cromwell

Henry VIII's chief minister sits in profile, heavy and watchful, papers and a letter before him, one hand gripping a document - the image of the ruthless administrator who drove England's break with Rome. Holbein grants him no warmth, only cold competence. He also painted Thomas More, also in this collection, as a near-pendant turned the other way; the irony is grim, since Cromwell helped send More to the scaffold. Two profiles, two enemies, each fixed by the same unflinching brush.