Art historian Adam Busiakiewicz recently discovered a lost portrait of Henry VIII from the late 16th century thanks to a post on the social media platform X (former Twitter).
Busiakiewicz was browsing his X feed when he came across a post from a reception in Warwick’s Shire Hall shared by Tim Cox, the Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire. The post featured a photo of Lieutenancy ambassadors, but the thing that caught Busiakiewicz’s attention was a framed painting of Tudor monarch Henry VIII.
Busiakiewicz identified the painting as one of 22 portraits commissioned by British politician Ralph Sheldon in the 1590s. Sheldon employed an anonymous artist known as Sheldon Master to make portraits of influential contemporary figures, mostly kings and queens, so he could hang them at his house. The paintings were later auctioned off, with the majority of them disappearing without a trace.
Busiakiewicz later visited Warwick’s Shire Hall alongside local art historian Aaron Manning in order to examine the painting. Based on all the physical evidence, he is certain that the portrait is indeed the same one that Sheldon commissioned.
Busiakiewicz is now on a mission to learn more about the anonymous painter of the portrait and trace back the painting’s provenance. It was acquired by the Warwick City Council in 1951, but little is known beyond that.
“Further details on the reverse of the painting, inaccessible during my visit, may provide further clues as to the exact provenance of this work. Work is ongoing in this respect, and further work including dendrochronology (comparing to other samples taken from other surviving Sheldon panels) and infrared could provide more clues as to its creation and perhaps creator,” Busiakiewicz concluded in a blog post.