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HOLBEIN, Hans the Younger: Portrait of Sir William Butts

🖼 Portrait of Sir William Butts, 1543
Oil on wood
47 × 37 cm
Boston, USA

Penetrating gaze and austere composure define this portrait, rendered with Holbein's characteristic precision and restrained palette. Sir William Butts, Henry VIII's physician, embodies Renaissance humanist authority through direct confrontation with the viewer, establishing the psychological intensity that revolutionized English portraiture.

The story of art
The story of art
E. H. Gombrich
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