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A solemn woman wearing a soft cap of dense white fur sits with a red squirrel in her lap and a glossy-feathered starling at her shoulder. Common pets in the fifteenth-century, these animals also have a symbolic meaning and serve as clues to the sitter's identity. She is thought to be Anne Lovell, whose husband, Sir Francis Lovell, was employed at the court of Henry VIII, King of England.The starling is probably intended as a rhyming pun of East Harling, where the family had recently inherited a large estate. Squirrels nibbling on nuts feature on the heraldry of the Lovell family: the windows of the church at East Harling include two of the family's coats of arms in stained glass, each showing six red squirrels. The commission may commemorate the birth of a son to the couple in the spring of 1526, but it also showed off their new status as wealthy landowners.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling (Anne Lovell?)

Date

about 1526-8

Medium

Oil on oak

Measurements

H 56 x W 38.8 cm

Accession number

NG6540

Acquisition method

Bought with contributions from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and The Art Fund and Mr J. Paul Getty Jnr (through the American Friends of the National Gallery, London), 1992

Work type

Painting

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

View venue

Artist or maker

Hans Holbein the younger

c.1497–1543

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