Hans Holbein the Younger, 'A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling', about 1526-8
London, The National Gallery.

Mystery of Holbein Portrait Revealed

The 16th century portrait 'A Lady with a Squirrel and Starling' has long been acclaimed as one of Hans Holbein the Younger's most engaging and intriguing portraits. However, until now no scholar has been able to determine the identity of the subject - a seated lady. The most tantalising clues are the presence of a squirrel positioned on the lady's lap and a starling on a nearby branch.

Hans Holbein was the official artist to the court of Henry VIII and came into contact with the leading courtiers and dignitaries of the time. However no link to any of them could be found until a research associate at the University of East Anglia - David J. King - saw a photograph of the portrait in a catalogue to which he was contributing.

He recognised the squirrel as the emblem of the Lovell family who lived in East Harling in Norfolk and was able to refer back to other uses of squirrels in the stained glass windows and the tombs in their parish church of St Peter and St Paul. From there, a likely connection was suggested to Anne Lovell, the wife of the owner of the nearby Lovell estates. At the time, the name of the bird and the town of East Harling had a similar pronunciation further implying that the starling was a clever visual pun.

Susan Foister, the National Gallery's curator of Early Netherlandish, German and British Painting, said of the discovery: 'It's very exciting. One longed to know who she is. This situates her exactly in the circle we would have expected to find her.'

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