A recent rabbit hole in the peculiar world of “Cute Studies” led me to this unlikely and delightful eighteenth century painting by Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792),[1] which was inspired by Hans Holbein’s sixteenth century portrait of Henry VIII.

I was temped to share the two images with no commentary, but one rabbit hole led to another.

Reynolds painted Master John Crewe, three-year-old son of a British politician named John, 1st Baron Crewe , in the costume his parents had ordered made for him to wear to a children’s costume party.[2] Copies of Holbein’s portrait were widely available at the time. The tailor faithfully reproduced the details in Holbein’s painting, right down to the Order of the Garter on the king’s leg. Master Crewe faithfully reproduced the king’s stance.

The work was displayed in the Royal Academy’s annual exhibition of 1776[3], where it was an enormous success. Writer and connoisseur Horace Walpole, who was eighteenth century England’s equivalent of an influencer, praised the way Reynolds had taken “the swaggering and colossal haughtiness” of Holbein’s original and created the “boyish jollity of Master Crewe.”

Master Crewe grew up to become a soldier and took part in Lord Macartney’s embassy to China[4] in 1793. He succeeded his father as Baron Crew, though he was estranged from his family for reasons that my rabbit-holing did not reveal.

[1] For those of you who are unfamiliar with art history, Joshua Reynolds was one of the most important portrait painters of the eighteenth century.

[2] And I thought my neighbors created some elaborate Halloween costumes for their children!

[3] Not quite as big a deal as the annual Paris Salon, but still a big deal in the world of British art.

[4] A story for another time