Eworth (or Ewoutszoon), Hans (c. 1515-c. 1574)

Flemish-born English portrait and minature painter. Arriving in England in the late 1540s, he worked for the court. About 35 portraits can either definitely or probably be attributed to him, many of them of Roman Catholic notables in the circle of Mary I. One of the best-known is the allegorical Portrait of Sir John Luttrell (1550, Courtauld Institute, London).

His works show the influence of both Hans Holbein the Younger (whose style remained fashionable at the English court) and Holbein's French counterpart, Jean Clouet.

Eworth was born in Antwerp and may possibly be identified with the ‘Jan Euworts’ mentioned as a freeman of the St Luke guild in that city in 1540. His fame, however, dates from his arrival in England, where he spent the rest of his life. The earliest of his dated paintings, signed with his monogram ‘HE’, is from the year 1549. He was also a painter and designer for court fêtes.

Among his finest works is the double portrait traditionally identified as Frances Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, and her second husband and former secretary, Adrian Stokes (1559) (private collection). A more plausible theory is that they are Mary, Baroness Dacre, and her son Gregory, 10th Baron Dacre.