Figure 1.

Henry VIII and the Barber-Surgeons. This large work was commissioned from Hans Holbein the Younger to commemorate the grant of a royal charter to the Company of Barbers and the Guild of Surgeons on their merger in 1540. Henry is shown wearing his famous garter around his left calf (although in other portraiture the garter is sometimes seen on the right leg). The importance of Thomas Vicary, himself instrumental in the merger, is indicated by his proximity to the King