3-085-487 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Portrait of Simon George of Cornwall (?), c1535-1543. Additional Info: Commissioned for courtship: this is indicated by the carnation and the clasp on the beret. The latter depicts Leda’s union with Jupiter in the shape of a swan, thus revealing the portrait subject’s erotic intentions. The sitter not only sports a sumptuous costume tailored in the latest fashion; he also chose one of the most modern picture forms of the time: the profile likeness in a tondo which derived from antique coins. The man portrayed is probably Simon George of Cornwall or Sir George Cornwall, a member of the landed gentry who married in the year of Holbein's death.