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Lot Essay
Roy Strong (op. cit.) considers this portrait of Fisher, along with those at St. John’s College, Trinity College and Christ’s College, Cambridge, to be ‘the most important’ of the sixteenth century paintings based on Holbein’s celebrated drawing of the sitter, of circa 1532-4, in the Royal Collection (inv. no. RCIN 912205).
Fisher was executed by order of Henry VIII during the English Reformation for refusing to accept the King as Supreme Head of the Church of England and for upholding the Catholic Church's doctrine of papal supremacy. He was named a cardinal by Pope Paul III in May 1535, shortly before his death. In 1935, he was canonised with Sir Thomas More, with whom he shares a feast day on 22 June in the calendar of Roman Catholic Saints.
Fisher was executed by order of Henry VIII during the English Reformation for refusing to accept the King as Supreme Head of the Church of England and for upholding the Catholic Church's doctrine of papal supremacy. He was named a cardinal by Pope Paul III in May 1535, shortly before his death. In 1935, he was canonised with Sir Thomas More, with whom he shares a feast day on 22 June in the calendar of Roman Catholic Saints.