Henry VII’s portrait found

After disappearing for centuries, a portrait of the English King, Henry VII, was recently rediscovered after an art historian spotted it on social media. The oil painting was located some 20km from where it was exhibited in the 16th century.

This painting was found to be on display in one of the reception rooms at Shire Hall in Warwick, England.

It appears in a photo that Tim Cox, Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire, posted on 4 July on X, according to Artnet News.

It was identified by Adam Busiakiewicz, an art historian working for Sotheby’s. “Strange discoveries can happen at any moment, it appears.

“This is especially the case when your eyes are particularly honed in on gilt frames that feature in the corners of photographs of peoples’ homes on social media.

“It happened today while I was scrolling at speed through X, when I by chance spotted a portrait of Henry VIII,” he wrote in a blog post.

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Henry VIII portrait reappearance

Adam Busiakiewicz recognised this portrait of the English monarch by its distinctive arched top, which can be found on around 20 other pictures painted in 1590, all depicting eminent personalities of the time, including kings and queens.

Tapestry manufacturer Ralph Sheldon commissioned these works of art to decorate his home. But they were dispersed when Ralph Sheldon’s descendants auctioned them off at Christie’s in 1781.

This oil on wood panel was acquired in 1951 by Warwickshire County Council, which then hung it in one of the rooms of its Shire Hall headquarters.

Following his discovery, Busiakiewicz managed to get a closer look at this portrait of Henry VIII. He says the painting is in good condition, although it does have some damage.

“The oak panel [on which the portrait is painted] has obviously split in an earlier period, and there is some damage found along the vertical joins which are stable. The face, and many details of the costume and jewellery, are well preserved,” he wrote on his blog.

“As is usual with paintings of this age, some of the darks have suffered from previous overcleaning and the hands bear areas of clumsy repainting.”

Warwickshire County Council has decided to transfer the painting to its Museum Collections Centre for further inspection. Its rediscovery has art historians excited.

“He might be the most recognisable English king, but there are only so many portraits of Henry VIII that were painted in the Tudor period. It’s wonderful that a lost portrait from the 1500s, especially one commissioned for and displayed in a Warwickshire home, has been rediscovered; a really important addition to the town’s already rich history,” said Warwick historian Aaron Manning.

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Lost art reappearances

This is not the first time that a long-lost work of art has reappeared overnight.

In 2019, a Gustav Klimt painting entitled Portrait of a Lady was found by two gardeners at the Ricci-Oddi Gallery of Modern Art in the Italian town of Piacenza.

It was in the same gallery that the painting had mysteriously disappeared in February 1997, when it was closed for renovation.