Sir John More

Pale eyes, fine white hair and a narrow, closed mouth emerge between a black cap and a spreading fur collar. Holbein gives the face a lightness: its edges almost disappear into the paper, while the clothing makes a broad, enclosing frame. This is Sir John More, the judge and father of Sir Thomas More, drawn around 1526–27 for Holbein’s portrait of the More family. ^[1] The sheet rewards looking both as a likeness of an elderly man and as one part of a larger gathering.

The judge in the More family

Sir John was serving as a justice of the King’s Bench when Holbein drew him; he had held that position since 1520. His approximate birth date places him in his mid-seventies. The inscription at the upper left identifies him through both his profession and his relationship to Thomas. It is an eighteenth-century copy of an earlier identification, rather than writing added at the sitting. ^[1]

That small line of lettering helps restore the social world around an otherwise isolated head and shoulders. An elderly parent has his own place within the household’s portrait. Knowing who he is changes the balance of the encounter: we can look at the features in their own right while also recognising the older generation of the family.

A face built with very little weight

Start with the eyes. Their pale centres are held by fine outlines, with small dark accents at the lids. The two brows sit lightly above them. Below, the long nose is described through a mixture of contour and faint shadow; the mouth needs only a few strokes to register its uneven line. The hair at either side is sparse and wispy, giving the stronger edge of the cap something delicate to rest against.

Age appears through these particular relationships. The cheek is hollow beside the nose, the skin folds beneath the eyes, and the chin narrows towards the collar. The drawing offers a face to examine without telling us what its owner was thinking. The slight movement at the corners of the mouth might suggest a reserved smile, yet it remains too subtle to settle into a single expression.

Colour contributes as much as outline. In its exhibition account, the Royal Collection explains that Holbein laid dry chalk over a dampened area to suggest the small broken veins in Sir John’s cheeks. ^[8] The rosy patches are therefore worth attending to alongside the stronger marks. Flesh emerges through changes in tone and texture, without enclosing every form.

Cap, collar and the open paper

The cap has a quite different density. Its broad dark shape tilts across the top of the head, with creases and overlapping edges giving it volume. Below, the fur spreads beyond the face on both sides. Short strokes break its outer contour into bristles, while warmer, softer passages fill the collar’s interior. The narrowing ends lead the eye down towards the bottom of the sheet.

Much of the garment beneath remains lightly indicated. At the left shoulder, long lines establish the fall of the fabric without covering the paper. This uneven distribution of detail gives the drawing its rhythm: dark cap, pale face, warm collar, then an increasingly open lower area. The viewer can move between a convincing presence and the economical marks that construct it.

A study for a lost gathering

The sheet belongs to the preparations for Sir Thomas More and his Family . Holbein’s group painting is lost, while a composition drawing survives in Basel. ^[1] The Royal Collection’s exhibition account connects the individual sitters’ poses with the arrangement being developed for that larger work. ^[8]

Seen alone, Sir John’s slight turn gives the bust an easy asymmetry. Within the family project, that direction also has a compositional purpose: a head must work in relation to other heads, bodies and surrounding space. The study preserves the close attention needed for one person before we consider the demands of assembling a household. Close looking moves us from tiny accents around an eye to a likeness that could take its place among others.