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Secondary sourcePaintingc. 1800

Henry VIII and His Three Children with Will Summers

F. Bartolozzi after Hans Holbein the Younger · c. 1800

A stipple engraving made around 1800, copying a Holbein group portrait of Henry VIII with his three children and his jester Will Summers.

Depicts Henry VIII with his three children and jester, part of a Tudor royal family image reproduced long after his death.

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Stipple engraving of a group of five people in Tudor-style dress standing or seated behind a table draped with a curtain. On the left, a heavyset man in a fur-trimmed robe and jeweled cap holds a staff. Behind him, a man peers from the shadows. Three young people sit at the table: a boy in a dark cap and two young women in lace collars and hoods. Signed Hans Holbein Del. and F. Bartolozzi R.A. Sculpt.
F. Bartolozzi after Hans Holbein the Younger, Henry VIII and his three children with Will Summers, c. 1800. Wellcome Collection.

About this source

What it is

This stipple engraving, made around 1800 by F. Bartolozzi, copies an earlier group portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger. It shows Henry VIII with his three children and his jester, Will Summers, in the background. It is held by the Wellcome Collection.

Why it matters

The original Holbein composition brought together Henry's three children — who would each later become monarch — alongside their father and his jester. This later engraving shows how Tudor royal imagery continued to be reproduced and valued centuries after Henry's reign, as a record of the royal family and court life.

Look closer

  • Why might an artist centuries later choose to copy this particular royal group portrait?
  • What might the presence of the king's jester in the scene tell us about Tudor court life?
  • Who is shown and who is missing from this family portrait, and why might that be?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Henry VIII on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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