Hans Holbein's 'Christina of Denmark' | The National Gallery

[@Eris123451]

"He had an heir but he needed a spare," priceless and too accurate by far.

[@rickh3714]

C'mon Regaine/Propecia(tm). What do you think? New slogan? 😎🧴🧔

[@Eris123451]

@@rickh3714 I had to look that up, but yeh. It made me laugh anyway.

[@mamamememoo]

Sounds like Elon Musk alright.

[@judithwilliams3835]

Thank you for an excellent lecture. We are so privileged to have these learned staff at The National Gallery who give their time in this way.

[@nationalgallery]

You're very welcome Judith, so pleased you enjoyed this.

[@markstarmer3677]

A most interesting and enlightening short lecture on the history of this painting, and the artist. Susan Foister enthusiasm is infectious as she takes us on this journey keeping the viewer engaged with no notes to refur to. An asset to the National.

[@elizabethfox4761]

Holbein's paintings have always fascinated me. So lifelike. It's like you are looking at a photograph. I love these lectures.

[@spikeyflo]

I saw this painting in 1973 while a teenager and accompanying my father on an exhausting art gallery tour of the UK. The one painting from this trip that I remember vividly is this, the most beautiful painting I've ever seen. If you can, go to the gallery and check it out. You won't be disappointed. Mike from Sydney, Australia.

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

I think Holbein is the greatest portraitist ever. Not only was he a virtuoso painter, he could capture the essence of a person with just a few lines in a quick sketch. To me, he’s the Mozart of the art world, the two most gifted artists ever in their fields.

[@carolking6355]

That brought me to tears. My late husband passed at 80 , 1/4 Danish. His grandmother Christina had come here as a little child with a large family when the Germans took over their land as Sleswick sp. Holstein. Her grandparents stayed behind. I have a photo of the dear little old couple in what we called national dress. If only I had known how special that name was I would have called one of our daughters Christina. The best I could find was Kirsten. It saddens me what the beautiful Christina suffered. It uplifts me that she had the humour to turn down Henry the 8th. I have a photo of my husband taken with Christina his grandmother taken c1944. She was a very upclass lady who had disproved of his parent’s wedding. Thank you for such a wonder story I wish I was younger and had time to visit or research. ❤

[@matthiasbro8030]

This picture captures more magic for me than the Mona Lisa in Paris does. It's marvellous and I really enjoyed the talk too.

[@perditachavez]

@Pete's Guitar Lessons TV please shut up with your non sens

[@tlpricescope7772]

Very small nose for woman at the time. It seems everyone had enormous noses back then!!

[@robynjones7691]

Ms Foister is a superb lecturer! Thank you to all concerned 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👌🏻

[@catslove3884]

Thank you. Knowing the background makes the painting come alive.

[@grounded9623]

Amazing story, glad the painting was kept in England and Christina kept her head; Cheers from Canada.

[@KylieRollans]

Christina would have been quite happy with the way you beautifully described the painting. 🎉

[@elderlypoodle9181]

I feel like I should be paying tuition to see this. Thank you for speaking and sharing. And oh !!! Look at how the folds on her gown are painted. Simply gorgeous.

[@spottedbutt]

The Queen!!!🤔

[@anacletwilliams8315]

You can generously contribute to the National Gallery if you like. There are many ways to do so. We would appreciate it.

[@JJONNYREPP]

Hans Holbein's 'Christina of Denmark' | The History of the National Gallery in Six Paintings 1419PM 23.2.22 as for holbein - yes, i enjoy his work. you will be happy to note...

[@tompommerel2136]

Wonderfully RICH presentation of so many aspects historically connected to this fabulous portrait. THANK YOU!!!!

[@adhoc9647]

My gosh, what an eloquent speaker! ! THANK YOU so much ! !

[@christinagriffith3353]

After doing a lot of family research I have traced Christina of Denmark to be my 13th great grandmother. This was an excellent lecture very in depth.

[@juegangermanface7498]

she is my father

[@BigDog366]

I'm reading about the exact moment this portrait comes to England in Hilary Mantel's Mirror and the Light--the last of her superb Thomas Cromwell trilogy. And I click randomly on my favourite National Gallery site and here is this talk. Wonderful.

[@preservethemankindliveinde192]

Synchronicity

[@evaboldt653]

Susan Foister ... thank you for this amazing presentation. Could listen to you for hours.

[@evangelist6277]

Very well presented and informative. I like it when the lecturer knows their stuff and can wax lyrical it makes it so much easier to listen to.

[@MelanieMaguire]

Wonderful painting. Fascinating to look at her face, she looks so real and alive. It seems as though she's just about to smile. Thanks for the lecture and the upload. :)

[@yreshetn]

The lecture was absolutely stunning. I couldn't stop watching. The painting is beautiful indeed.

[@stardresser1]

Holbein's work is so fascinating, so sumptuous, his depth of detail and texture is just dazzling.

[@AthensArtWalk]

Amazing story. Thank you so much for this excellent lecture.

[@xh3416]

Thank you for such a wonderful lesson of art and history.

[@Rubytuesday1569]

I really enjoyed this lecture very much. Very comprehensive and well presented. Thank you.☮️

[@michaeljohnangel6359]

A really good lecture, as always. People interested in Holbein might like to know that the drawings he worked from were traced by using a camera lucida; this is how he achieved such verisimilitude in the short amount of time given him by his stters. Then, after tracing the drawings onto his panel (the heads in the paintings are exactly the same size as the heads in the camera lucida drawings), the figure was painted from his imagination (and from his knowledge of the planar structure of a face). This, by the way, is why he had colour notes on his drawings: he didn't paint from life.

[@JJONNYREPP]

Hans Holbein's 'Christina of Denmark' | The History of the National Gallery in Six Paintings 2420pm 23.2.22 i seized on your comment. thanks. i was trynna detail which artists of the medieval period would have used optics and the like to generate detailed and geometeric precise imagery. this use of optics and mirrors (refer to our friend david hockney) is one step away from photography and can point the way to the early photographic process (dare we suggest the turin shroud was an early foray into the noble art of photography?)

[@JJONNYREPP]

@@MrAdryan1603 i, too, know nothing about anything... so it's dead reassuring to note that other more erudite chaps can wax upon these topics with some joy and certainty - as we lap it up. we - the dupes and idiots. thanx.

[@RocLobo358]

The camera lucida wasn't invented until hundreds of years after the painting. The artists of this time had tricks but it wasn't a camera lucida. There's not really any evidence of photographic perspective in these works either. They had meshes and grids which would make quick work of a portrait.

[@ladyethyme]

The camera lucida wasn’t invented yet…. Not for hundreds of years-it was invented in 1806 by a chemist. None of your assertions are correct-and are glaringly obvious to anyone who has actually studied art history and painting. You literally you can achieve the effect of ‘realism’ through various other techniques and methods, including grids, experience, and observation. These are techniques still taught today, with artists achieving wonderful realism without tracing. It’s mildly insulting to insinuate he had to have traced to achieve this level of realism; particularly with the wildly inaccurate claim that the camera was used. And I hate to tell you-but we use colour notes when painting from life. It’s not uncommon. I think perhaps you don’t understand what painting from life entails.

[@JJONNYREPP]

@@ladyethyme Hans Holbein's 'Christina of Denmark' | The National Gallery 2146pm 2.8.22 thumbs up cos you deigned to reply... but i am certain your exactitude on the matter is suspect. maybe even hockney would maybe question your notions regards optic use and the camera obscura - it has been mooted that optics were used way before official documentation... we do the past a discredit - assuming such folk must have been dolts as we're allegedly technologically superior. not so.. i disagree... i do comprehend the notions of copying from life - your realism, as you put it. over painting or copying from other sources to then present it as an original or as a study from alleged real life would not have been uncommon... there are a lot of bluffers in your game of art, of that i am sure. i think you maybe go and check out hockey's own observations and intimations regards what could and could not be achieved. no; i am not an artists at all. and i doubt it matters much re: viewing an image and taking a stance on hat is or is not applicable to the process of painting... there is some innate disgust with the art world by artists themselves so all is not well in that world... anyhow; not a case of bowing to one's betters more a case of humming and aghhing at their seeming intransience on various matters or artists...

[@carolefreeman2544]

It’s a beautiful portrait painting of Christina of Denmark. It looks almost three dimensional (at least 2 dimensional). The background colour works marvellously with the Black Satin she is wearing. I would love to see this painting in the flesh.

[@not8rious]

Eloquent lecturer. A true pleasure to listen to

[@Pattersonization]

That coat is really beautiful!

[@SUSSDUE]

Thank you very much for this interesting talk! The National Gallery is a must whehever I have been fortunate to go to London. I always visit my ” old friend” van Eyck and come away happy. That all this fantastic art is free for everyone to visit is so generous and shows how great art ought to be acessible for everyone as it is everyones heritage! I applaud the great national museums ( in all countries) that make art and culture freely acessible to everyone, from the pauper to the millionaire! I understand of course that museums need income/ funds to make this possible, but it is brilliant if they can find this funding ( governement, lottery, private) without changing an entrance fee.

[@rebeccalott8170]

I LOVE the National Gallery talks!! So glad these are available on KZbin 🥰💕💕

[@johnAsanz]

A wonderful presentation about an equally wonderful painting, I often spend time in front of this on my weekly visits to the gallery and knew nothing about the anonymous lady who helped us to keep it here. I for one am for ever grateful that she did so. Thank you

[@markwardel6751]

great talk...I could listen to this lady all day.

[@annasahlstrom6109]

I love these talks! My mom was the Art Lady at my grade school and one of the artists she taught us about was Hans Holbein the Younger.

[@j0nnyism]

A beautiful women with a strong instinct for self preservation. I can’t imagine that there would be many women brave enough to reject Henry

[@Thepourdeuxchanson]

Braver still to accept him. The worst that could happen if she rejected him would be being returned to her parents in disgrace. Accept him and risk death if she didn't perform her duty.

[@Backskool]

Susan is amazing!!! Looking forward to hearing more from her

[@eliasmokbel1638]

Amazing presentation!

[@ColliCub]

It’s worth noting that Christina was wholly opposed to marrying Henry from the outset, especially given that his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, the woman from whom Henry’s divorce brought about the Reformation, was in fact Christina’s great-aunt.

[@OmmerSyssel]

Intermarriage were a quite normal phenomenon in our royal families... During generations leading to physical and intellectual issues. Danish Prince Knud were one of them, causing general amusement and gossip.

[@robertracicot7232]

Listen to the video again 7:15, "Christina said that she don't have an opinion about her marrying Henry the VIII and that she will do what the emperor's command." May you cite your sources

[@ColliCub]

Robert Racicot “Christina, then only sixteen years old, made no secret of her opposition to marrying the English king, who by this time had a reputation around Europe for his mistreatment of wives: Henry had divorced his first wife Catherine of Aragon (Christina's great-aunt), and beheaded his second, Anne Boleyn. She supposedly said, "If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England's disposal." Alison Weir in The Lady in the Tower ISBN 978-0-345-45321-1 p. 296 Cited. 😙

[@JJONNYREPP]

Hans Holbein's 'Christina of Denmark' | The History of the National Gallery in Six Paintings 1412pm 23.2.22 "NEEDED THE SPARE"? i could have sworn i saw this previously... but i dont recall such an off the cuff remark before re: henry's regal peccadilloes... strange what you miss when you initially engage with something...

[@cyndifoore7743]

Oh!

[@vivabec]

love those lectures! always pointing out interesting stories and perspectives. thank you for uploading!

[@lizmerrick6883]

Wonderful lecture. I've seen this painting many times (not in person) and am amazed to see how large it is! It seems unnecessary for a marriage prospect portrait, but also interesting. I wonder what it would be like to stand in front of a life size, beautifully rendered portrait of a person you might marry in an age without photography. It would feel like she was in the room with you.

[@sg639]

That reminds me of Browning's, "My Last Duchess" (in reverse, of course).

[@christopherheinig5590]

Excellent discourse thank you !

[@PaulLewey]

A Great video and Beautiful talk from Susan Foister, thank you.

[@tothejazz4828]

What an incredibly rich story. Thank you so much for sharing this!

[@hunkhk]

what a wonderful lecturer - Im enthralled - thank you

[@cvbzizou]

I love thèse lectures! I geek out every time! 🤓 Bravo to The National Gallery for promoting and sustaining our love for these art treasures. 👏🏼

[@angiedefreitas5060]

Really enjoyed this. Thank you: wonderful topic and a wonderfully informative and entertaining presentation.

[@GFunk4YoTrunk88]

Very good and informative presentation. Thank you Susan Foister.

[@59jaguar]

Well done . Excellent presentation. Great story and a great painting!

[@carolynl1424]

Excellent lecture - thank you!

[@ayselsalamova3649]

I always watch National Gallery's lectures ❣ each time learn so much information. Thank you 🙏💗💗💗

[@clearlake3492]

Very interesting talk on a truly wonderful painting.

[@leannesmith3480]

Wow, now captivated by Christina of Denmark! I'll have to find out more about her.

[@leylag1466]

Excellent lecture as always. Thank you.

[@nationalgallery]

You are very welcome

[@chrishoo2]

Beautiful! Wonderfully presented. Many thanks.

[@nationalgallery]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@OmmerSyssel]

Excellent presentation of an extraordinary piece of Art. By order of a greedy King of England a splendid German artist travels to France portraying a beautiful newly widoved Danish princess. Thanks a lot for the effort to all involved...

[@subjectline]

This is an amazing picture. When you stand in front of it, it seems to show a dimple in the act of appearing.

[@robcoghan5204]

I love the British, a great speaker replete with knowledge aforethought.

[@darrenhudson5503]

Have just discovered the joy of art..somehow it seems to make sense to.me..really love holbein..

[@wangxuechun5212]

terrific! story lies behind the scene, so lovely to know how the Gallery bought this painting.

[@matthewcondon1985]

That was very interesting. Thanks so much for sharing this lecturer!

[@nationalgallery]

Our pleasure, thank you for watching

[@lizaluk]

Her way of narration tranquil.

[@michellegordon456]

Thank you so much for posting a very interesting, informative and very enjoyable lecture on such a fabulous painting with such a history.

[@wendyprattwriting1067]

an excellent lecture, thank you so much.

[@angie9430]

Fascinating and well told story will look her up. Thank you !

[@lovevelvetbones7507]

Amazing! Thank you for letting me know this interesting story!

[@gauriblomeyer1835]

Very good performance. I like the elegant pronounciation of the Speaker. Some other Holbein pictures could have been shown to admire his art.

[@mamamia6925]

Thank you for this lecture!

[@evelynramos445]

❤ ❤blessings! Our gal, like no other!

[@MrNigara]

Great lecture! Thank you

[@annwilliams6438]

‘There are many (nobles), but only one Holbein!’ Henry VIII in The Tudors. ;)

[@musicaclasicaviva4258]

Es una ventana al pasado realmente pinturas maravillosas

[@inezdruminez4196]

Trank you for This wonderful Speech….

[@jeananneramsden]

Agreed. A really good lecture. Thank you.

[@namesalltaken159]

A wonderful and enlightening lecture

[@janawaw8293]

Další zajímavý příběh obrazu , mohla bych to poslouchat celé hodiny. Děkuji

[@TheSaltydog07]

Love this artist.

[@maryearll3359]

A beautiful young lady.

[@amandajstar]

And... I love Dr Foister's book on Holbein in England : )

[@charlotte8879]

Excellent presentation

[@debb8152]

What a story!

[@Mandarinen]

Thank you! i really enjoyed the lecture. As a Swede studying 16th century Scandinavia (mostly the Swedish Vasa family), I have to point out that Christina's father Christian II did not introduce the reformation to Denmark (That's Christian III.) although I think you can say that he and the Swedish archbishop Gustav Trolle were indirectly partly responsible for the Swedish one. Christian II was only a very horrible (and horrifying!) ruler who killed a lot of people all over Scandinavia, mostly in Stockholm in November 1520 where he executes a huge part of the Swedish nobilty, their servants and the council of Stockholm (He and Trolle claimed heresy, which gets the pope angry.). He was overthrown almost directly in Sweden (including Finland) and then in Denmark-Norway (including Iceland) a couple of years later and the Danish Council of the Realm even says that they dismiss him because they fear for their lives.

[@nanasophieholm9252]

Didn't he get the rather grueling "nickname" Christian Tyrann due to the killings in Stockholm? -In Denmark we call it "Det Stockholmske Blodbad".

[@Mandarinen]

@@nanasophieholm9252 Yes, from surviving monks in Nydala kloster in Småland where he killed a lot of monks on his way home to Copenhagen. The smålanders sort of free themselves in less then a month afterwards making me think Sweden would have thrown Christian out without Gustav Vasa.

[@annamorley8254]

A fascinating lecture and intriguing subject - thank you.

[@lisastallingskeelor3328]

I wish the camera were focused on the speaker and the painting. Not the backs of heads. The speaker could narrate documentaries. She has a nice voice and speaks well as well as being fully versed on the subject.

[@dearmaria4654]

She's indeed very beautiful and very smart too not to marry Henry VIII.

[@louise-yo7kz]

👍🏾

[@mariaalejandralatorre114]

I think princess Athena of Denmark( daughter of prince Joachim and princess Marie) bears a astonishing resemblance to her ancestor! Genetics is fascinating

[@madhavathyagaraj3030]

Excellent presentation. Can anybody please tell me which is the other painting on the wall, next to Christina? The colours in that painting are so attractive.

[@georgie9084]

Nicolas Neufchatel's Portrait of a Young Lady.

[@madhavathyagaraj3030]

@@georgie9084 Thank you!

[@MamaByNature]

I found this video searching for more information on Hans Holbein who I am a descendant of on my paternal side (his mother’s side Carol Holbein Gilkerson). We have many great artists including my son who is very gifted ❤️ such an interesting video!

[@freyamckenzie5583]

Most enjoyable episode.

[@63artemisia63]

Speaking of things Henry didn’t like about Anne of Cleves, she wasn’t keen on him either. His putrid leg made being in even nearby rooms a problem. (Everyone was afraid to tell him.) Imagine then, being in the same bed! His overbearing presence in other ways, also put her off. If I remember my reading about their relationship right, the two ended up sharing a mutual respect.

[@marthaeugeniaalvarezochoa7204]

Great explanation,, thanks

[@juliadagnall5816]

Henry VIII was, atypically for a monarch of the period, obsessed with the idea of romantic love. Perhaps because he was a second son and perhaps because he’d come to the throne as a strapping nineteen year old golden boy and never really lost that mental image of himself he didn’t want a dynastic political marriage, he wanted a love connection. What’s sad is that the closest he ever came was with Katherine of Aragon. Marrying her had been his idea, she’d stayed in England after the death of Prince Arthur on the hope of marrying the next Prince of Wales but Henry VII was a cagey guy and kept putting off the Spanish in hopes of getting a better offer. Katherine’s chances got slimmer after her mother died- the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile had been united by her parents marriage and after Isabel died the crown of Castile passed to her eldest surviving child, Juana, which kicked off a tug of war between Ferdinand of Aragon and Juana’s husband, Philip of Burgundy. (It more or less ended when Philip died and Ferdinand locked up his daughter who ended up known as ‘Joanna the Mad’). Anyway, Henry VII kicked the bucket, and Henry VIII was free to do whatever he wanted. And what he wanted to do was marry Katherine. He didn’t take long about it either, the two married shortly after his father died and were crowned together at Westminster Abbey (Anne Boleyn was the only other wife to get a coronation). Henry and Katherine were married for twenty four years, and while he was by no means faithful, he did respect her for most of that time. And then he had a midlife crisis. See, the Tudors were royal parvenus, their claim on the throne was so sketchy that if the Plantagenets hadn’t spent thirty years or so killing each other off there’s no way they would have gotten anywhere close to the big chair. Henry VIII had two sisters, one surviving daughter by Katherine, and one acknowledged illegitimate son (Henry Fitzroy) who died as a teenager leaving Henry with an all-female pool of heirs. This was, to put it mildly, not ideal. The last time England had a female monarch was the Empress Matilda way back in the 12th century and, um, it hadn’t gone very well. Henry wanted a male heir, a legitimate one this time. There was also the tiny detail that Katherine was six years older than him and he didn’t really find her attractive anymore. Kings had divorced their wives before for being barren, and Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine had split after only having daughters together. The difference was that Eleanor had wanted out and Katherine didn’t want to go anywhere. She was the rightful Queen of England and her daughter was the rightful heir to the throne and since her nephew (Charles V, Juana’s son) basically had the Pope in a headlock that wasn’t going to change anytime soon unless Henry did something drastic like, idk, naming himself the supreme head of the Church of England. This also, completely coincidentally, gave him the power to take all the Church’s land and money which he kind of needed because none of his grand military plans in France had really worked out but they’d left him strapped for cash (the constant partying hadn’t helped either). So Henry got his annulment which meant he got to say that the last twenty four years had been a teensy mistake and he’d never been legally married after all so Anne Boleyn was now his first wife. Whatever you say, Henry. Except it turns out that the qualities that made Anne a great mistress made her a lousy wife (especially since he’d been spoiled after twenty four years with the dutiful and long suffering Katherine. Not everyone is chill about having a husband with a wandering eye, Henry) and since she hadn’t given him a son either he and his fixer (Thomas Cromwell) found enough excuse to have her executed for adultery and then, for good measure, had that marriage declared invalid so, once again, Henry was a guy who had definitely never really been married before when he and Jane Seymour tied the knot. Noticing a pattern yet? Jane lived just long enough to give him a male heir before Henry found himself mourning his first ‘real’ wife. Not that Henry could afford to stay single for long. In this charming time before vaccinations, antibiotics, and an appreciation for basic hygiene even royal children only had about a fifty-fifty chance of making it past the age of seven. With his two daughters both still very female and now bastards to boot Henry needed a spare, just in case. So he went shopping for his fourth/second wife. There were a couple of issues with this. The first is that Henry was no longer the strapping man he’d been in his prime. A lifetime of sports injuries, including a nasty wound on his leg that never quite healed, limited his mobility and since he was still eating a high calorie diet loaded with fat and sugar… let’s just say his figure was still impressive but not in a good way. Still, he was a King and that made up for a lot. Another was that he was, on paper at least, now a Protestant King. He wasn’t really that interested in radically reforming the church, but he had put himself above the Pope and for the majority of Catholic Europe that was a big no-no. The biggest problem was Henry himself. Despite it all he still wanted to find the courtly romance of his dreams. Since he was now, for the first time, facing the prospect of marrying someone who he’d never seen let alone spoke to you can imagine how important these portraits were, as well as the descriptions given by Henry’s ambassadors. No matter how good the portrait though, it’s not likely the flesh and blood woman would be able to match up to his insanely high expectations. If made it this far, congratulations. You’ve made it through half of Henry VIII’s wives, but remember: he was definitely only really married to one of them ;)

[@englishclasses738]

cómo me ha gustado! Cuánto he aprendido! Thank you very much for this video, for your "delicious" explanations! I'd love to visit THE GALLERY London ASAP again and again

[@shoelessjojaxon]

Wonderful! So interesting!

[@GuzThevenin]

Christina of Denmark-Oldenburg, Duchess consort of Milan, and Upper Lorraine is my 5th Cousin 11 times removed.

[@beverlyfletcher4458]

Wonderful. Could the anonymous benefactor been Queen Alexandra? I didn't know that before but have always admired the portrait, and another interesting, long, life of the subject.

[@marsp5636]

*SIX* paintings

[@karenhodges7545]

Thank you

[@sintes88]

Well said

[@geraldbarreno535]

I never knew about her story thank ..

[@renshiwu305]

Hands, dimples - observers praised what they could see. No mention of her figure. That billowy outfit did its job.