Bishop John Fisher

It is probable, that Torrigiano arrived in London by 1507 and that he worked for Henry VII before the King’s death in April 1509, modelling the bust of Mary Tudor (untraced) for her proposed marriage of 1507-08 to Margaret of Austria’s nephew Charles I (later Emperor Charles V). This theory would support an early date of c. 1509-11 for the polychrome terracotta busts of King Henry VII (Victoria and Albert Museum, London), the young Henry VIII and John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), all three convincingly attributed to Torrigiano. It would also enable the polychrome plaster and wood Death-mask and Funeral Effigy of Henry VII (1509; Westminster Abbey Museum, London) to be attributed to him, suggesting that Henry VII was Torrigiani’s first patron in England.

John Fisher (1469-1535) was an English Catholic bishop, cardinal, and theologian. Fisher was also an academic, and eventually served as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He was executed by order of Henry VIII during the English Reformation for refusing to accept him as the supreme head of the Church of England and for upholding the Catholic Church’s doctrine of papal supremacy.