How does this artwork elucidate its Attribution and dating?
The painting usually dated as c. 1532–4, when Cromwell was Master of the Jewel House. The original portrait probably showed a painted scroll above his head, the text of the Frick version was removed during an early 20th restoration/improvement. The wording seems likely designed to position Cromwell beside the king. It read "To our trusty and right well beloved Councillor, Thomas Cromwell, Master of our Jewel House". the wording exists in a 1915 photograph of the Frick painting, but was removed. That panel underwent extensive technical analysis in 1952, and was cleaned in 1966; work that "did not substantiate an attribution to Holbein", but rather indicated the hand of a less skilled, workshop member.
Master of the Jewel House Thomas Cromwell Cromwell panel