Thank you @missy and @rambo. Now I don't consider myself to be very knowledgeable about art, but I do know my history and I would like to draw your attention to Holbein. He was the court painter for King Henry the 8th and his work tells us alot about this time in our history.
Take for instance this picture of Jane Seymore, Henry's third wife. Holbein shows Jane as being the exact opposite of her predecessor Anne Boleyn. Anne was dark and fiery, Jane pale and demure. Do you think this is why the King chose Jane to be his next wife?
Next we have the famous painting of Anne of Cleves. Holbein was sent to Germany to take Anne's likeness and send it to the King, so as he could see her before he made his descision to marry her. It is said that Henry fell in love with this picture and immediately sent for her. She arrived in England and we are told that Henry surprised her by coming into her lodgings dressed as a pauper, kissed her on the lips and said "We bring you greetings from the King of England!" - Anne, thinking this was a drunken fat old man, pushed him away with disgust. It all went down hill from there. Henry married her because he was contracted to do so but the marriage lasted less than six months. He claimed to his advisers that she looks nothing like her portrait and that she was a "Flanders mare." Of course this begs the question, would Holbein risk sending a false likeness to the King? Is this really an ugly woman or was Henry just insulted by her reaction to him?
This brings us to Henry's fifth wife, Katherine Howard. Katherine was a maid in waiting to Anne of Cleves when she came to England. She was around 17 years old, the King was 54. Henry believed that Katherine was a sweet virgin with not a stain on her reputation, indeed he called her his "Rose without a thorn." However, he was sadly mistaken. Unlike her cousin Anne Boleyn who was arrested on false charges, Katherine was undoubtedly guilty of adultery. She was a young girl, forced to marry a man old enough to be her father who was grossly fat and had a wound on his leg that smelled like rotting meat. She fell in love with the kings pageboy, Thomas Culpeper, and they had an affair. They was found out and both executed. This is the only surviving portrait of Katherine Howard, the tragic young queen.
I hope you have enjoyed learning about Holbein and his subjects.
Charlie. X x x
