Artwork Information

Thomas Howard, fourteenth Earl of Arundel, was one of the greatest art collectors of his day and his vast collection rivalled that of the king himself. The earl had travelled in Italy in his youth and developed an enduring interest in art and antiquities – an early example of what later became known as the ‘Grand Tour’. His agents in Italy and the Middle East went to great lengths to obtain new objects for him, though delivery was fraught with risk and one shipload of ancient sculptures was lost at sea. Perhaps the earl’s greatest acquisition was the artist himself, for without Arundel’s patronage it is questionable whether Hollar would now hold such a distinguished place in the history of art.