Portrait of Johann von Schwarzwaldt

Portrait of Johann von Schwarzwaldt is a tempera on parchment portrait completed in 1543 by German artist and printmaker, Hans Holbein the Younger. The painting shows a young man against a blue background, turned three-quarters to the viewer's right. The sitter is wearing a deep black velvet cap and a black silk gown, a shade lighter, with a finely embroidered white shirt showing at the neck and wrist. The eyes are lowered, half covered by the lids, the arms folded. He has two rings on his left hand and is holding leather gloves. There is a flanking inscription at head height —· ANNO · ETATIS // SVÆ · 24 · 1543· — indicating that he was born about 1519. The subject of this portrait was identified as a Danzig merchant, Hans (Johann) von Schwarzwald (1513 − 1575), but his age does not match the inscription. It has been suggested that the young man might be Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell, the son of Henry VIII's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex.