Sir Brian Tuke

The gold letters at the top of the panel name the sitter as Brian Tuke, knight, aged 57. He was one of the officials who kept Henry VIII's paperwork moving. From 1517 he was master of the king's posts, in charge of the riders who relayed royal letters across England, an office that later became the Postmaster General. In 1528 he also took over as treasurer of the king's chamber. Fittingly for the man who ran the posts, Holbein shows him with a letter. The folded sheet under his left hand carries a line from the Book of Job, "Are not my days few?" The French words on either side of his head, Droit et avant, meaning upright and forward, were his motto. The National Gallery of Art in Washington dates the portrait to one of Holbein's two stays in England, either around 1527 or 1528, or between 1532 and 1534.