Portrait of Cyriacus Kale

Portrait of Cyriacus Kale, painted in 1533 and part of Holbein's Hanseatic merchant series, shows the German trader in London with the composed directness that characterizes all his portraits of this mercantile community. Kale was a merchant associated with the Steelyard, the Hanseatic trading house on the Thames that provided Holbein with some of his most appreciative patrons during his second English period. The series of Hanseatic merchant portraits Holbein produced between 1532 and 1543 represents one of the most sustained documentary explorations in Renaissance portraiture: a community of prosperous, educated northern European merchants rendered with equal care and equal psychological depth, their faces constituting a collective portrait of the northern European commercial world.

Executed in Oil on canvas, the work showcases Hans Holbein the Younger's psychological penetration, with particular attention to the interplay of light across the sitter's features. The handling of drapery and accessories demonstrates the technical refinement expected of formal portraiture.