The Great Harry, Ship of Henry VIII after Holbein, Antique Print, 1849

A great Tudor warship under sail, lettered on the sheet as the Nef d'Henri VIII Roi d'Angleterre of 1520 and taken, as the caption states, from the original by Hans Holbein then still in England. Four masts carry topcastles; the hull is striped green and white, the Tudor livery colors; streamers and pennants of enormous length stream aft, and the gunports along the side are open. The ship is the one that carried the king to the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and this is one of the most recognizable images of the Tudor navy.

Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance was issued in Paris between 1848 and 1851 in five volumes under the literary direction of Paul Lacroix and the artistic direction of Ferdinand Sere. This plate belongs to the second volume, dated 1849. Its chromolithographs were drawn from the originals by artists sent into the libraries and collections of France, Belgium and Germany, and printed by Lemercier of Paris or by Engelmann et Graf.

This is the finest sheet in the volume and the easiest to live with: a single bold object on an open sea, with the whole drama of the image carried by the flags. It is the obvious choice for a maritime collection, a boat room or a coastal house, and it holds a wall on its own without needing a companion. Buyers of Tudor and naval material know the subject at once.

Even age toning. Handling soiling along all four edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners complete.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.