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Gerlach Flicke was a well known German portrait painter, active from 1545 to 1558. He made a name for himself in London as a Tudor court artist. Flicke was born in Osnabrück, Germany, but first emerged as a portrait painter in England. Around 1545, Flicke moved to London, positioning himself as the successor to Hans Holbein, who had passed away in 1543. He often signed his works with a Latinised name and added "Germanus" to highlight his German education. Among his notable works were portraits of Mary I.
Flicke's work includes a self-portrait in oils, painted in London while he was imprisoned. This piece holds the distinction of being the earliest self-portrait in oils made in England. His incarceration in 1554 has no known cause, but he befriended Henry Strangwish, a privateer also incarcerated for piracy, during this time. His imprisonment may have been due to the ongoing Protestant persecution under Mary I of England from 1553.
Another notable piece by Flicke, likely created around 1551, was a full-length portrait of Lord Darcy. The last known sighting of this painting was in 1848 at Irnham Hall in Lincolnshire, and it hasn't been seen since.
Flicke's life came to an end in the London parish of St Giles-without-Cripplegate on 24 January 1558. He bequeathed his belongings to an Osnabrück servant, suggesting that he considered it his hometown.
