Speckled Vanity

 

Henry VIII

Painting by Hans Holbein, c. 1536

Oil on wood 28x19 cm.

The vain man prides himself inordinately on his appearance, accomplishments and possessions.

In this our modern world, vain men strut and crave attention, seeking to gather and reinforce power and influence, no less today than in times past.

This very month, one specifically comes to mind, whose characteristic attempts to exploit the above as he tries to establish his own form of monarchy, may remind us of an earlier tyrant.

They share behaviours of course, including shrewd political opportunism, a brutal tendency to throw erstwhile helpers to one side, and to treat women (and marriage) ruthlessly – in a word, to bully.

But first and foremost, it's that obsession with personal appearance that most strongly links these two.

 

Look no further

feast your eyes

on my well-clad breast

bejewelled jacket

golden pendant

chain and collar

all interwoven

garnets for kingship

saphires and others

as well as pearls

 

with a flash of that which lies below

 

framed in fur

I rest secure

a man of substance

magnificent

whose many layers

of rich apparel

show who I am

so look no further

now you’ve seen me

in all my finery.

 

 

For this most richly impressive of portraits, the artist used real powdered gold in his paint and the expensive ultramarine pigment that was usually seen only in miniatures. Its specific function may have been to send it to Francis, king of France, with whom Henry had put on a road show to end all festivals at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, in a colossally expensive event.

Be all that as it may, the painstakingly bedecked, scrupulously presented, broad-shouldered king – a deliberate, self conscious picture of power – surveys us, nearly five hundred years later, anticipating awe.

We shouldn't be surprised that this vain tyrant was about to conduct the biggest smash and grab raid ever perpetrated by an English monarch.

We too are expected to be impressed, to need to look no further.

What a portrait indeed!

But hopefully neither we nor those with the power to choose will be overly influenced by appearance, considered so important by the vain.

And speckled vanity

Will sicken soon and die.

(Milton)

It may be reassuring to remember, Henry himself, that scholar and athlete, archetypical vigorous Renaissance man, in a mere ten years time would be reduced to a stinking physical wreck – an unpainted appearance we can only imagine – and an early undignified death.

Meanwhile, the spectacular Holbein portrait, a picture of vanity, lives on.

Vanity – an obsession with appearance, from the Latin adjective vanus meaning empty.