Note 18 — XII.
Reading edition
In this room hangs the most valuable picture by Holbein now in existence, representing the company of Barber Surgeons kneeling before Henry VIII., and receiving their charter from his hands. The picture is about six feet square. The king is dressed in scarlet, and quite fulfills one's idea of his aspect. The Barber-Surgeons, all portraits, are an assemblage of grave-looking personages, in dark costumes. The company has refused five thousand pounds for this unique picture; and the keeper of the Hall told me that Sir Robert Peel had offered a thousand pounds for liberty to take out only one of the heads, that of a person named Penn, he conditioning to have a perfect facsimile painted in. I did not see any merit in this head over the others.—II. 200.