Focus on this artwork and explain the Description.
Richard Southwell was a privy councillor of Henry VIII of England and was portrayed by Holbein, who had become court painter a short time before, in 1536, as recorded in the inscription. The latter reads:X° IVLII ANNO H[ENRICI] VIII XXVIII° / ETATIS SUAE ANNO XXXIII
The painting had once an ebony frame, of which only the silver decorative medallions remain, with the coats of arms of the Medici, Arundel, Southwell and the painter's name. They date likely to the acquisition by the Tuscan Grand Duke in the 17th century.
privy council Henry VIII Medici Richard Southwell Henry VIII of England