Derick Berck de Colonia

The Steelyard was a walled compound on the north bank of the Thames where the German merchants of the Hanseatic League lived, warehoused their goods and kept their own rules and their own tax privileges. Holbein returned to London in 1532, and those traders were his first steady clients in the city. By 1536, the year written on this portrait, he was also drawing a salary from Henry VIII.

The sitter names himself twice over. The folded letter in his hand is addressed to the honourable and pious Derick Berck, London, at the Steelyard. The slip of paper beside him carries a line from Virgil, that one day it will be a pleasure to remember even this, which reads like a motto he picked for himself.

He was 30 when it was painted. The Steelyard's privileges were revoked 16 years later, and the Hanse's hold on London trade went with them.