Holbein - Colour, Values, Detail

In previous weeks, I've been working solely on the drapery, the robe, and in particular the velvet red arms -- leaving the skin colouring in the face for another day. The arms were easier than I thought. I used Cadmium Red Deep with pure Cadmium for the highlights.  In most online reproductions I've seen of this painting, the robe appears to be pure, solid black, which isn't likely given the light thrown on the figure. I decided to give it an indigo tint, just like the hat, to help bring out some of the folds.  I took the photo below outdoors and suddenly the green background seemed much brighter than I intended.

So on the next pass, each area will go several values deeper.  I have to concentrate on the darkest darks before moving into the lighter areas to get the correct range of values.

I made a start on the centre of the golden chain of office and will slowly lay out the basic shape before honing in on the details (close up below)... And there are exquisite details: a series of esses linked by chains, coming together at the centre with a Tudor rose strung .  It is supposed to be made of up a chain of esses, a pair of portcullises, from which hang a Tudor Rose, a combination of  the red rose of Lancaster and white rose of York.  As I'm painting the pedals, I can imagine a rose within a rose... 

Curiously, in other areas like the drapery, the paint layer is very thin. Either Holbein did it very quickly, trying to conserve paint, or conservators stripping the varnish to clean the painting pulled away some of the green.  What's left is very transparent.