|
This painting is a workshop copy of a lost original by Hans Holbein the Younger.
The sitter was identified on the basis of a preliminary drawing by Holbein that is inscribed with Lady Rich's name. Born Elizabeth Jenks, she was the daughter of a well-to-do London spice merchant. In 1535 she married Richard Rich, who ascended to the nobility as the first Baron Rich in 1548, and became lord chancellor in the same year.
Holbein's preparatory drawings on paper for pendant portraits of the Riches are preserved in the Royal Collection, Windsor. The corresponding paintings presumably once existed, although none of Sir Richard has survived, and the two remaining of Lady Rich are workshop copies.
| 
