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Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England from 1509 until his death. This oil-on-panel portrait was painted by Hans Holbein the Younger c. 1537, depicting the king in a near-frontal pose similar to that used by the artist in a number of other portraits. It is a markedly linear picture without background distractions; Henry gazes into the distance, with his head, hands and general demeanour imbuing his personality with a sense of solidity and strength. The painting is in the collection of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, Spain.
In 1536, Henry suffered a leg injury in a jousting accident. The wound festered chronically for the remainder of his life and became ulcerated, thus preventing him from maintaining the level of physical activity he had previously enjoyed. He became grossly obese, and this hastened his early death; the view that he suffered from syphilis has been dismissed by most historians.Painting credit: Hans Holbein the Younger