It was also in England that Holbein began to paint portrait miniatures. He seems to have learned the technique from an artist called Lucas Hornebout, a Flemish painter in the service of Henry VIII. Holbein's miniatures do not differ essentially from his large-scale paintings; his famous miniature of Mrs Pemberton has all the precision of line and clarity of structure of larger portraits. Holbein's miniatures were to be praised by the most famous English miniaturist, Nicholas Hilliard, who later in the century wrote, `Holbean's maner of limning I have ever imitated and howld it for the best'. Hilliard's miniatures, however, transform the miniature from the reduction of a large-scale painting into a jewel-like and daintily patterned objet d'art.

Preview	Picture Data	File Info	Comment
	Solomon and the Queen of Sheba 1534-35 Vellum, 22,9 x 18,3 cm Royal Library, Windsor	807*1010 True Color 158 Kb
	Portrait of Philipp Melanchthon c. 1535 Oak, diameter 9 cm Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum, Hannover	1080*610 True Color 110 Kb
	Portrait of Jane Pemberton c. 1540 Vellum mounted on playing card, diameter 5,3 cm Victoria and Albert Museum, London	493*527 True Color 27 Kb
	Portrait of an Unknown Lady c. 1541 Vellum mounted on playing card, diameter 5,1 cm Royal Collection, Windsor	500*498 True Color 33 Kb
	Henry Brandon 1541 Vellum mounted on playing card, diameter 5,7 cm Royal Collection, Windsor	444*442 True Color 24 Kb
	Charles Brandon 1541 Vellum mounted on playing card, diameter 5,7 cm Royal Collection, Windsor	446*442 True Color 25 Kb