Thanks to Henry VIII, The Tudors, Anne of a Thousand Days and countless, COUNTLESS films and books we are all being led to believe that (with the possible exception of Anne of Cleves, although the jury is still out on what ACTUALLY happened there) that Henry VIII’s six wives were HOT STUFF.
Could it be that the truth is very different? Now, I don’t know about you but I am guessing that Henry didn’t go for personality over looks so surely they must at least have been FAIRLY attractive?
A display of rare portraits (rare being art history speak for ‘rarely seen’) at the recent Henry’s Women exhibition at Hampton Court Palace would seem to suggest otherwise.
Katherine of Aragon by an unknown artist, 1530s.
Anne Boleyn by an unknown artist, possibly contemporary.
Jane Seymour by one of the ‘Cast Shadow Workshop’, c 1536.
Anne of Cleves by Barthel Bruyn, 1530s.
Catherine Howard, probably a copy of a contemporary work by Holbein. This painting is interesting because it was originally identified as being of Catherine Howard but then this was rejected in the last century and it was decided that it either depicted Henry VIII’s niece Margaret Douglas or one of Jane Seymour’s sisters. However, opinion would appear to have swung in the opposite direction thanks to its close resemblance to the only known likenesses of Katherine.
Katherine Parr by an unknown artist, probably contemporary.
I didn’t pick the portraits featured in the exhibition at Hampton Court Palace! If they don’t fit in with your idea of how Henry VIII’s wives looked or have a spurious provenance then take it up with the curators there, don’t get cross with me! I just thought they were interesting and unusual choices and wanted to share them with my blog readers! :)
it’s funny… of all the portraits i’ve seen, i actually find anne of cleves to be the most attractive and uniquely beautiful out of the six wives… ironic, considering she’s classically known as the least attractive (i think that honor goes to his first wife).
This paintings of the six wives are not correct. I think that you should really do some homeowrk before putting it up. there are very many pics and you should also add dates of before and after. you see with Katherine of Aragon when he married her she was very beutiful but she did not age well. when he fell in “love” with Anne Boleyn she was also attarctive but six years of waiting and fighting took its toll. Jane was not preety at all. Katherine Parr was attarctive there are a couple of portrats u just piced the worst.
Sorry, not sure what you mean to be honest. This is a post about the recent exhibition of portraits of Henry VIII’s wives at Hampton Court Palace and wasn’t intended to be a comprehensive look at all of their portraits or a discussion about their lives or relative attractiveness. I didn’t ‘pick’ the portraits either, funnily enough.
Perhaps you should have done *your* homework and read the actual post before commenting?
Indeed if yissel would have read the post correctly he or she would have realized that you were speaking only of the portraits displayed at Hampton Court. I agree with libby, Anne of Cleves does by far look like the most attractive queen.
Well, yes, I was a bit confused – if they wanted to have a go at someone, maybe they should have picked on the curator of the exhibition at Hampton Court? Although I would have loved to see their reaction if someone had emailed them to say that they should have done their homework and had picked the wrong portraits! ;D
We enjoyed your post! We are doing a play about the six wives in Evanston, Il at Piccolo Theatre. It’s the midwest premier of a very wacky comedy originated by Foursight Theatre of England. It was lovely to look at your collection of images, as we plumb through our research in search of these Queens!
(6deadqueens.blogspot.com if you’re curious!)
Thank you! :D
I will certainly check out your blog! The play sounds really interesting! :)
appropos of nothing; what’s the image to the right over there——-> (the one that’s entitled “IMG_3337″ -with the pretty raucous decolletage and the flimsy nightgowny thingy and the pretty brunnetery?
I’m like: rawr! Who’s the artist, what’s the painting, please?
:)
Haha, that is a portrait of Madame Récamier by Baron Gérard. She was one of the greatest beauties of her time.
I posted some other portraits of her here: http://madameguillotine.org.uk/2009/12/04/madame-recamier
i like boylean 3>
I have to disagree with your portraits, I’m afraid, although well done for a thought provoking post!
The portait of Anne Boleyn, research has shown by art historians and historians alike, was painted at some point in the late sixteenth century, possibly in the 1580s. It hung in Nidd Hall, Yorkshire, along with other ruling kings and queens. However, what is interesting is that this portrait supposedly of Anne Boleyn, was actually identified as being Katherine of Aragon, Anne, and Jane Seymour – all during the respective reigns of their children. The portrait was altered and changed, depending on whose child was on the throne. I don’t know if you can notice it, but the sitter’s chin and nose – as well as colouring and dress – bear a marked similarity to Jane Seymour. The ‘AB’ brooch was supposedly added during Elizabeth’s reign. It was not painted from life and I don’t think it shows a reliable likeness of Queen Anne.
Similarly, the portrait is probably not Katherine Howard, I suspect. For one thing, if you look at it closely, it says on the side ‘ETATIS 21′, yet as I hope to prove in my study in Katherine, she never lived to be 18, let alone 21. She was probably more likely to have been 15-16 in her Queenship, and the sitter wears mourning clothes, which Katherine of course would never have worn. So I doubt very much it is her.
Yet it may not be one of Jane Seymour’s sisters. I believe this was a highborn woman in the early 1540s at the English court – perhaps Margaret Douglas, although unlikely too, for she was never a mourner either. It would be interesting to study it properly, but it WAS found in the home of the Cromwells, which would possibly suggest it was a relation of theirs, possibly Elizabeth Seymour, daughter-in-law of Thomas Cromwell, and sister to Jane Seymour.
Sorry, but I didn’t pick the portraits! As explained in the text, they were the six chosen for an exhibition about Henry VIII’s wives at Hampton Court Palace. I chose to replicate them here as I thought they were interesting and unusual choices.
I’d direct any criticism of the choices they made to their curators not me!
Thanks.