A long-lost portrait of the English monarch Henry VIII has been rediscovered thanks to a post on X. London-based art historian Adam Busiakiewicz was the one to first recognise and then positively identify the masterpiece, tucked away in a local shire hall in Warwickshire.
Busiakiewicz had been scrolling through X for a while when he came across a picture shared by Tim Cox, the British crown’s representative in Warwickshire. Yet instead of being interested in the people standing in front of the camera, his eye was caught by one of the paintings hanging behind them.
Delighted to host a reception for Lieutenancy ambassadors to thank them and my Deputy Lieutenants for all they do across #Warwickshire pic.twitter.com/gJOssu2Zj5
— Warwickshire Lieutenancy (@Warkslieutenant) July 4, 2024
“Social media is a crazy thing,” Busiakiewicz told CNN. “Some people use it to watch cat videos and follow what’s going on in the world, and then people like me just look at what people have hanging on their walls.”
The painting showed a picture of Tudor monarch Henry VIII. Not a rare thing but some particularities of the piece got the art historian interested.
“Seeing this round topped portrait immediately reminded me of a famous set of likenesses commissioned by the local politician and tapestry maker Ralph Sheldon (c. 1537–1613) for his home Weston House, Warwickshire, during the 1590s. Consisting of twenty-two portraits, mostly images of Kings, Queens and significant contemporary international figures, only a handful are known today. They are notable for each having arched tops, as they were once incorporated into an architectural frieze of the Long Gallery at Weston”, Busiakiewicz wrote in a blog post.
Moreover, Henry VIII can be seen holding a sword and wearing a feathered hat, a distinctive trait of the Sheldon Master’s work and visible in an engraving of the Long Hall made by antiquarian Henry Shaw in 1839. After a visit to the shire hall with local art historian Aaron Manning, his theory was confirmed.
“Adam and Aaron viewed the painting at Shire Hall, and have confirmed they think it is definitely one of the Ralph Sheldon commissions,” a spokesperson for Warwickshire County Council told CNN. “Since this discovery, the painting has been moved into our Museum Collections Centre to allow further research to take place.”
An official estimation hasn’t been released just yet but Busiakiewicz is now trying to retrace the piece’s movements. The last time the painting was seen was when it was sold at an auction at Christie’s in 1908 – then, in 1951, it was purchased by the shire hall.
“Provenance is always such a really tricky thing – it’s very hard sometimes to find, particularly when pictures are sold privately. But there’s no doubt that this is Ralph Sheldon’s painting of Henry VIII,” Busiakiewicz said. “Looking at paintings and pictures of paintings is my life and it’s great fun, particularly when you can in some way right a historic wrong, let’s say. Pictures that are overlooked, pictures that aren’t appreciated as much as they might be.”
