Portrait de Thomas More en anglais

Thomas More

Who was Thomas More ? :

Sir Thomas More was born on the 7 February 1478. He was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, member of the Parliament and a Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord High Chancellor of England from 1529 to 1532. He wrote “Utopia”, which describes the political system of an imaginary island state.

He refused to endorse the break of the Church of England with the Catholic Church of Rome, so Thomas More, very attached to his principles, did not agree with the king's divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon, that he was friend to, and especially with the fact that Henry proclaimed himself head of the Church of England instead of the Pope. Sir More also refused to take the Oath of Supremacy, for that he was considered as a traitor to the King and was executed on the 6 of July 1535.

Thomas More was an influential man and didn't agree with the King's decisions. We can assume that was also for that he was executed.

The painting of Sir Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger :

This artwork is an oil on oak panel, typical of the 16th century, that measures 74.2 cm × 59 cm and was painted by the German artist Hans Holbein the Younger in 1527. This portrait is now in the Frick Collection in New York.

It portrays Sir Thomas More in a three-quarter profile against a green curtain, maybe in velvet. He wears his official robe, a cape in black silk and brown fur lining over a red silk shirt. We need to know that at this time the red pigment was really expensive and the silk, such as today, represents a certain power and wealth.

 He wears an office collar, the Esses collar, with the Tudor Rose which was symbolic of the royal family in England. Various forms of livery collars were used in the Middle Ages to denote attachment to an important person by friends, servants, and political supporters.

Personal impression :

In my opinion this portrait is really representative of the Tudor's century and the power of those people that were close to the monarchy. If we don't know his name, we can obviously see that he was an important person of the country and was an image of the reputation of Henry VIII, who wanted to be seen as a great King and so do the persons that he was close to. We can understand that this portrait was meant to be for the glory of Thomas More, during his period of wealth and success in every thing that he was doing. I appreciate this artwork because we can feel the power through him. Through his position, the colors and to the collar. Even if we don't know anything about him, we can easily understand that he was important and powerful.

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