Holbein was dispatched by Cromwell, Henry's Minister, to paint the Lady
Anne of Cleves, and by practising the common flattery of his profession,
"he was," says Walpole, "the immediate cause of the destruction of that
great subject, and of the disgrace which fell upon the princess herself.
He drew so favorable a likeness that Henry was content to wed her; but
when he found her so inferior to the miniature, the storm which should
have really been directed at the painter, burst on the minister; and
Cromwell lost his head, because Anne was _a Flanders mare_, and not a
Venus, as Holbein had represented her."