There is a famous portrait of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger, painted as part of the Whitehall Mural in the mid-1530s. By the time of its creation, the Tudor royal was in his forties and already dealing with some of the health issues that would come to riddle his final years, while also overcoming the serious injuries suffered in a jousting accident at Greenwich Palace.
Yet Holbein paints the picture of a potentate in his prime. Henry stands tall and broad, legs spread in a power pose, showing no signs of physical decline. It is a piece of propaganda that has endured even after the destruction of the mural in 1698, a great many copies and cartoons shaping the perception of the ruler across centuries.
