Keywords: Henry VIII and the Barber Surgeons, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg 60px left Sir William Butts 60px left John Chambers Holbein prepared this cartoon for a large-scale work to commemorate the grant of a royal charter to the Company of Barbers and the Guild of Surgeons on their merger in 1540 Presumably at the request of his clients Holbein based the design on that of the miniatures painted on Tudor charters of privileges Working from an old sketch Holbein portrayed King Henry who did not sit for him on this occasion more as an icon than as a living person<ref>Stephanie Buck Hans Holbein Cologne Könemann 1999 ISBN 3829025831 128 </ref> The members of the company in contrast were conceived as individuals The figures of Sir William Butts and the doctor John Chambers are closely related to portraits of them by Holbein left though the overpainting has made this less clear art historian John Rowlands reproduces an infra-red photograph of the underdrawing Beneath the overpainting and additions such as the windows by later hands this cartoon reveals Holbein's original conception for the final work The painting itself however departs markedly from it in places for example in the second row of figures on the right and in the background <ref name W>Derek Wilson Hans Holbein Portrait of an Unknown Man London Pimlico 2006 ISBN 1844139182 273 </ref> It was for a long time believed that this version was a copy but X-rays have revealed that under the paint the paper is pricked all over following the outlines of the composition This shows that it was used to mark up the original version of the painting <ref>Rowlands John Holbein The Paintings of Hans Holbein the Younger Boston David R Godine 1985 ISBN 0879235780 148 “49 </ref> The surgeons who retained ownership of the painting bought the cartoon in 1786 from a French art dealer <ref>Buck 129 </ref><br> <br/>References <references/> Stephanie Buck Hans Holbein Cologne Könemann 1999 ISBN 3829025831 Original cartoon drawn on paper by Hans Holbein the Younger; overpainted in oils and altered by another artist or artists c 1543 painted over by an unknown hand at an unknown date 80px80px PD-Art Henry VIII and the Barber Surgeons Oil on paper |