Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Question from Elizabeth M - Hever Castle portrait of Mary Boleyn
This question is along a similar vein to Nasim's question about the Hever portrait of Anne Boleyn. I read that the Hever portrait by Holbein, supposedly of Mary Boleyn, was until the 17th century labeled as Anne, and then changed to Mary. Does anyone know the history of this. It has always seemed a bit odd to me that Mary Boleyn would have been painted by Holbein. He first came to England in 1526, I believe, when Henry's affair with Mary Boleyn was cooled and he was starting his hot pursuit of her sister Anne. Mary was in disgrace with her family by the end of 1534, when she married in secret William Stafford. He was in England from 1526-1528, and then went to Basel, and did not come back to England until 1532. The timeframe seems tight. From 1526-1528, Mary Boleyn was the former mistress of the King, from 1532 to the early part of 1533, the sister of the King's current mistress, soon to be wife. The only really logical time for her to be painted was from the spring of 1533 to the autumn of 1534, when she fell into disfavor. Annd did at times seemingly wear the gable hood pictures--at least one account of her execution states she was wearing a gable hood to the scaffold. So could this portrait be of Anne and have been relabeled?