A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling

A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling is an oil on oak painting undertaken between 1526 and 1528 by the German artist Hans Holbein the Younger. Although the sitter was unknown for some time, it is thought to be Anne Lovell, the wife of Francis, a squire to Henry VIII; according to Derek Wilson, Holbein's biographer, "the squirrel was Lovell's heraldic badge and the starling is a pun on 'East Harling'", which was Lovell's ancestral seat. It is unlikely that the sitter posed with the animals, which were likely to have been separate sittings by Holbein.

A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling

A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling is an oil on oak painting undertaken between 1526 and 1528 by the German artist Hans Holbein the Younger. Although the sitter was unknown for some time, it is thought to be Anne Lovell, the wife of Francis, a squire to Henry VIII; according to Derek Wilson, Holbein's biographer, "the squirrel was Lovell's heraldic badge and the starling is a pun on 'East Harling'", which was Lovell's ancestral seat. It is unlikely that the sitter posed with the animals, which were likely to have been separate sittings by Holbein.