Thomas Cranmer

Image credit: National Portrait Gallery, London

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Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 1533, Cranmer carried through Henry VIII's momentous divorce from Catherine of Aragon. In the reign of Edward VI, he was responsible for the first book of Common Prayer published in 1549, and much of his text remains in use today. As a committed Protestant he was deprived of office under Mary I and imprisoned. Cranmer eventually acknowledged Papal supremacy and the truth of Roman Catholic doctrines except for transubstantiation. However finally he was burnt at the stake recanting his earlier acceptance of Catholicism. Cranmer holds the Epistles of St Paul, and on the table are two books, one of which appears to be St Augustine's Of Faith and Works. This portrait was painted by Gerlach Flicke, an native of Osnabrück in Germany, who was working in England between 1545 and 1558.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Thomas Cranmer

Date

1545

Medium

oil on panel

Measurements

H 98.4 x W 76.2 cm

Accession number

535

Acquisition method

Transferred from the British Museum, 1879

Work type

Painting

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