The British Museum Sketch of Anne Boleyn

Does Hans Holbein’s sketch, held in the British Museum, show the face of Anne Boleyn?
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#HansHolbein #Holbein #AnneBoleyn #tudor #tudorhistory #tudortok #HeverCastle #sixwivesofhenryviii #henryviiiwives #BritishMuseum #Windsor #arthistory #arthistorynerd #16thcentury #16thcenturyart

[@jb-zr4ez]

Perhaps the second drawing is Anne during a pregnancy. It is possible for a woman's face to change during this time. The hormones and the 'eating for two' have a noticeable effect on most women as the pregnancy advances. I think the drawing of Anne in her casual robe shows a woman looking serene and content, which she surely must have been at the prospect of giving Henry a male heir. Holbein was very good at capturing on paper the very thoughts of his subject.

[@cherrytraveller5915]

A woman I work with is currently pregnant (due soon) and her face shape changed in the last nine months. She has gotten quite puffy in the face.

[@DevonExplorer]

Yes, that was my first thought too.

[@mrsbobanna]

That's what I was thinking, that is a pregnant chin for sure

[@zarinaromanets7290]

You may notice the bonnet tied tight under her chin in the second sketch. Can confirm, that wearing anything tight enough so it doesn't loosen with head movement will produce "rolls" even when I was considered so skinny as to look malnourished as a teen. But yes, there could very well be weight fluctuations in just a few months let alone years that change face shape as well.

[@helkatww3992]

I think they are both Anne, because the facial structure is nigh-on identical. Anne's eyes are described as "dark" in contemporary descriptions, but I don't think they are ever described as brown. My eyes are a very dark deep blue, and can look black in certain lights, so it is possible that although Anne's eyes were dark, they could still have been blue. Holbein was also known to use base layers of colour on his sketches to help him layer up colour on his portraits, which explains why he might have used a golden brown for the sitter's hair in the second sketch. As for her aging between sketches, it was a tough and worrying time for Anne. High levels of stress can lead to premature aging. Just my humble opinions though 😊

[@EllieMarianna]

Well Elizabeth had Anne's dark brown eyes. There's no blue pigment on the sketch.

[@carinetang776]

Yes I agree! Not only premature ageing from stress, but also hormonal and weight changes due to at least three pregnancies in a short period of time!

[@ViolettaD1485]

Elizabeth was said to have grey eyes.

[@kerryfletcher8114]

Also artists were sent to do a portrait of the prospective wives for the King to see and decide if he liked them. Sometimes they altered the sitters looks to make them more attractive, or younger...

[@sherrygadberryturner9527]

I have hazel eyes but sometimes they appear black too. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@mariapilarme]

It’s the same woman. I am a portrait artist and our faces change, it looks older the one on the right. If you take pictures of a person in different times and you do a drawing of each photo you will see changes but looks the same person. The line of the nose it’s the same and people do have different noses from one person to another. Another way to see it’s the eyes brows has the same length and curve.

[@ineffablemars]

Also a portrait artist and I agree.

[@kittysparkleeyes]

I just think the second is of a pregnant woman as they do often get a double chin during that time. The other could be anna prior to her pregnancy in 1532? Elizabeth wasnt born until sept 1533 so its posible?

[@nicolelivermore4031]

I’ve always thought there is a remarkable resemblance between the face shape and mouth in these 2 portraits from opposite sides of the face, the nose is prominent (although not looking identical to the observer) in both, and both also resemble the surviving contemporary medal and the dual portrait ring. A critical contemporary noted her “wide” (not fashionably thin lipped?) mouth, and had to acknowledge her “black and beautiful” eyes - the British museum lady certainly has beautiful eyes. I’m waiting keenly for a scientific computer based analysis of the 2 portrait drawings to see if they could be the same woman - now that would be a fascinating publication.

[@corvus_da]

I don't think her face has necessarily changed much at all. It's not a photograph - if I draw someone twice, they're not going to look exactly identical even if the person's actual appearance is the same. Of course she has a double chin in the second picture and not in the first, but she could easily have gained a bit of weight in three years.

[@RR-kz4hq]

Girl this is me. I have a slightly crooked nose and i IMMEDIATLY recognized she is the same exact person because this is what i look like from each side (i jokingly say i have too girls ) ... so its definatly possible its the same person! Exciting to consider

[@tpower1912]

Why on Earth do you think your personal life matters here

[@mikkelthepikkel8241]

I can totally relate. I have a very similar nose to the Windsor sketch and I took pictures of myself from the two angles of the sketches and my nose look straight in one and had a little curve in the other.

[@harrietlyall1991]

The foreheads of the portraits are identical: rounded and sloping. The proportions of the features and the bone structures are very similar also, and there’s a good chance they are both of the same lady.

[@angebaker5687]

Could it be Mary Boleyn?

[@lindahl458]

That sounds like a feasible option, definitely.

[@mikkelthepikkel8241]

Depends if Mary was at court when the sketches were made

[@sasha9019]

It makes sense for the one in the right is a pregnant Anne,everything looks the same it just looks like she gained some face fat from being pregnant. And a lot of peoples faces change during pregnancy. So yeah 👍🏾

[@alancumming6407]

A really interesting and informative broadcast, many thanks.

[@DrOwenEmmerson]

You are so welcome!

[@ineffablemars]

As an artist… it’s the same person.

[@stconstable]

For me: dfferent nose, eyesockets and eyebrows.

[@Justificus]

Could it be Anne's sister Mary? Sibling similarities?

[@FireSilver25]

I’m sure being married to Henry would’ve raised any woman’s cortisol levels through the roof. Add alcohol and refined carb consumption and say hello to premature aging.

[@cherrytraveller5915]

I wonder what you think about Alison Weir claim about another painting being Anne.

[@TrizzBizz]

I think it resembles the face shape on the most happy medal.

[@denisegarvin182]

Thank you for this truly informative presentation.

[@Helen-oj7sm]

Really enjoying your knowledgeable videos on Anne’s portraiture I’ve often thought the difference between attributed portraits could be an artefact of her charismatic intelligent personality, on which her attraction depended

[@melissabruner1224]

No one looks good with a string tied under her chin. It's the same person. Also, I have a copy of the Hollar engraving from the 17th century.

[@huolalupin6008]

What an interesting, clear and well-crafted video. If only there were more like it.

[@lizziemiss945]

Now i want to draw her

[@LM-1825]

I believe this too to be Anne. She looks so much like her brother George who was also sketched by Holbein. The angle is a bit different from the other sketch of Anne and there is more detail. It is more complete as opposed to the other sketch of Anne labeled to be her. I believe Anne to be pregnant as well in the other sketch. A woman's face can change a lot during pregnancy with the added weight. And maybe Holbein sketched Anne's features a bit softer as she was pregnant or he simply hadn't gotten the chance to add the finer points of her actual face. Which raises a very interesting question: Was the image of the pregnant Anne drawn in late 1535 or early 1536 before she miscarried? That would explain it's more unfinished state as well as Anne wanting something very special and intimate for Henry, believing she would certainly deliver a son and all would be well again? Was Holbein at court at that time? Thank you!! By the way, the more complete sketch in my opinion shows Anne to appear almost a bit afraid. But in the pregnancy sketch, she appears very relaxed, she's looking down and perhaps thinking of the happy time it will be when the baby is born(hopefully the son!) It's amazing how Holbein could capture the emotion of the person in the moment. Brilliant!

[@AmandaWatsonDBT]

Yes definitely. There is a definite familial resemblance between this picture and the one of her brother George.

[@Christina-ho2uv]

I don‘t like that you made it sound like it‘s 100% certain that the right painting is for sure Anne. As there is also evidence against it. For example the blonde hair, the blonde eyebrows which start to fade and John Cheek who apparently identified it didn‘t inscribe it himself, it‘s thought that he created a list, now lost of some of the sitters to Holbeins paintings from his second visit to england, and even with this he misidentified some, for example King Edward VI‘s wetnurse as mother jack So while there‘s a chance that it‘s Anne, it‘s not certain…

[@DrOwenEmmerson]

I would highly recommend checking out the latest research by Dr Kate Heard from the Royal Collections Trust, which demonstrates this is Anne: - Scientific analysis has shown that Holbein originally placed darker chalks on Anne’s hair (browns, reds and blacks) which have eroded over time. Chalk doesn't seep into the paper, and is therefore vulnerable to this. However, significant extant remnants remain, and this is backed up by early C18th copies of the sketch - made in colour - which show that the hair was originally brunette. - Cheke didn't “apparently identify” it - he *did* identify it. Cheke met Anne at court in 1534 and she provided significant funds for one of his pupils after this meeting. Cheke didn't “create a list” of the sketches, so such a list cannot be lost. We know from primary sources that Cheke inscribed the mount pages in the Great Book to which each of Holbein’s sketch was mounted. When Queen Caroline had the sketches removed, an C18th hand then inscribed the sketch from the identification made on the mount page by Cheke. This is all detailed in primary sources. - Cheke made only two mistakes out of 80 he identified. Moreover, the two mistakes he made were of individuals in the More household from Holbein’s first sojourn, who he didn't know. Since there is no extant portrait of Mother Jack, how can you be so sure that she didn't look like Margaret Giggs? I do very much recommend catching up on the very latest research, and examining the primary sources which identify this confidently as Queen Anne Boleyn, made between 1532-36.

[@bessofhardwick9311]

I'm a portrait artist. I think these drawings show the same woman at different body weights. The shape, dimensions and positioning of the main features and the bone structure all correspond. The colours don't mean anything really, as pigments change/errode over time and you can only ID what colours they originally were by chemical analysis of the pigments.

[@annafirth6738]

She might have had a bunch of pregnancies within three years? (probably did) so maybe that's a factor.

[@kevster2171]

I don't think they can be the same person. The Windsor portrait has brown eyes and the BM light grey irises. Also the shape of the nose and forehead is different, the former's face is longer. The woman in this BM portrait is just too plainly dressed to be a queen, especially AB who was known for her ostentation.

[@SweetePixxluv]

The second portrait looks like a woman prematurely aged by a mean spirited and changeable husband. 😢

[@jnharton]

Given that the 17th century is actually the 1600s, I think the attribution is unlikely to be more than 100 years newer.

[@carihislop161]

I loved seeing the portraits side by side! Definitely two different ladies. The lady in the British Museum sketch has a different nose, larger nostrils and fuller lips. They do, however, look like they come from the same family. We know Anne was not Henry's first foray into Boleyns - there might have been any number of female family members paraded for Henry's perusal.

[@jnharton]

They don't look that different though if you consider the way fat buildup can change your appearance.

[@reeyees50]

Not the nose shape, it doesnt

[@mikkelthepikkel8241]

It can it's called pregnancy nose. Look it up​@@reeyees50

[@klarabarunovic9841]

First sketch must've been of Anne before marriage to Henry VIII and the second one is of Anne after the marriage to the demon mentioned above😂

[@DrOwenEmmerson]

It's a great theory, but it doesn't match what we know of Holbein’s paper usage, sadly. When Holbein first visited England (1526-28) he exclusively used white primed paper. This was during the period when Henry was courting/ engaged to Anne. Holbein then returned in 1532, using exclusively pink primed paper. This was the year Anne married Henry, and she was dead just over three years later.

[@klarabarunovic9841]

@@DrOwenEmmerson of course, the time period doesn't match but I was only joking... great video though.

[@HLB512]

I always thought that this sketch was a close resemblance to George Boleyn

[@ferretyluv]

I don’t think so. The descriptions I heard was that she had dark eyes and dark hair.

[@rebeccawills8697]

It's the same person one was mean and gave her a double chin

[@MilesAwaywithUs]

I'm always curious about the very golden-looking hair visible in the one pictured looking downward. Is there an explanation for that blond color? Could the original sketch hair color have faded over the centuries?

[@DrOwenEmmerson]

Yes, if you check my channel you will see a video on the Windsor sketch with a full explanation.

[@MilesAwaywithUs]

@@DrOwenEmmerson oh thanks! I'll check it out 😊

[@chrisk5651]

The first one is too pretty

[@EleanorWhite-ml9xw]

Interesting

[@wednesdayschild3627]

The eyes are blue. I still think it is Anne, because it looks like the Niddhall portrait.

[@DrOwenEmmerson]

After extensive analysis by the curators at the BM, they have been able to confirm that there is no blue pigment on this sketch.

[@redgiselle74]

When I heard that part I was just like, HOW? Why are my eyes telling me they see blue when there isn't any value pigment there?

[@yuelan7153]

​@@redgiselle74​ i'm going to hazard a guess and say it's because the paper is yellowed. blue and yellow are on opposite sides of the color wheel so if you put grey on yellow the human eye likes to start perceiving it as blue

[@scot60]

Anne was said to have a goiter. The portrait that was confirmed to be Anne by her contemporaries shows what appears to be a bulge below her chin, or a goiter. I believe that portrait is the genuine one.

[@Shane-Flanagan]

Actually there is some doubt as to whether the Windsor sketch is of Anne. We don't know if Cheke actually met Anne. Also, the subject is wearing what looks like night wear which a Queen would not be sketched wearing.

[@DrOwenEmmerson]

I would recommend brushing up on the most recent research by Dr Kate Heard, Natalie Grueininger and myself on this. Cheke was at court in 1534, and certainly met Anne. She went on to fund his student's education afterwards. I would also recommend looking at the portraiture of the French King’s sister (and Anne’s confident) Marguerite of Angoulême, who was depicted in a night shift. Similarly, Henry VIII’s son, the Duke of Richmond, was depicted in precisely the same manner as Anne Boleyn in his 1534 miniature by Lucas Horrnbout, wearing his chemise and a coif. The sketch of Anne by Holbein was quite likely for a similar intimate limning, and there was more than precedent for woman and men of Anne’s station and circle being captured like this.

[@Shane-Flanagan]

​@@DrOwenEmmersonBut what about the Wyatt heraldry on the back of the sketch? Also was not Checke away studying and working at Cambridge during the 1520's and 1530's? Checke has been known to make errors when identifying people such as the sketch identified as Mother Jack which in fact was of Margaret Giggs, foster daughter of Thomas More

[@DrOwenEmmerson]

@@Shane-Flanagan I’d highly recommend looking at the new research. I'll take your questions in order: Holbein never used the reverse of his sketches as identifiers of the sitter. We have no evidence of this as the sketch of Anne is the only sketch with anything on the reverse, so we can't say it relates to her at all. Conversely, Holbein scattered the edges of the sketches with details pertinent to the sitter. This was his practice. After May 1536, his sketch of Anne would have been no use to him for reproduction. Noone would have been ordering a copy of his portrait of Anne as she was dead and disgraced. Paper was an expensive commodity, however, and Holbein was thrifty. We know he often had to ask for advances for his work, so he wouldn't waste expensive paper. Sir Henry Wyatt died that November. Holbein appears to have used this redundant sketch of Annr as a scrap paper to quickly jot down Henry’s arms to finish his memorial to Sir Henry. Cheke certainly was at Cambridge, but Natalie has found a primary account of him visiting the King and Queen at court in 1534, as I stated. Cheke subsequently received patronage from Anne for his student, William Bill. It is therefore inconceivable that he would have got this identification wrong. Cheke only made two mistakes when identifying the Great Book, getting 78 right. Moreover, he only misidentified sitters from Holbein’s first sojourn, when Cheke wasn't at court, and of people who were not at court when he was. As we have no other portrait of Mother Jack, we cannot rule out the possibility that she had a passing similarity to Margaret Clement.

[@Shane-Flanagan]

@@DrOwenEmmerson Thank you

[@DrOwenEmmerson]

@@Shane-Flanagan You are so welcome!

[@caroletraynor8763]

I don't think this is Anne. The hood is different. She wore the french style hood.

[@DrOwenEmmerson]

Anne certainly wore the French fashions, but we have very good evidence that she wore the English fashions too. This is detailed in her expense accounts, where she is paying for both fashions, her inventories, and in the account of her execution, where we are told by several eyewitnesses that she wore an English hood. Anne is also depicted in the English hood in the 1534 medal created during her lifetime. She almost certainly sat for, and approved of this image.

[@lindamarshall-wc4yt]

It is sctually Mary Boleyn her sister. Mary is definitely tge one on the left. And she is easy tell as she always has s more full mouth and Anne has a very smsll mouth and thin lips. Mary also has very defined eyebrows. Mary also had no problem wearing the gable headress which her sister actually hated and refused to wear. As for the other picture, I know it isn't Anne but it slso isn't Mary. Not unless she took to plucking her eyebrows. My guess is thst it might be someone else in the household. Holbein ii liked to practice and he would more 4:35 often practice with more common folk. I tlhink it is an older woman possibly sn aunt or a cousin. Not their mother as she doesn't resemble the portrait painted of her. Many portraits said to be Jsne Seymour were actually Snne Boleyn as Jane died soon after her baby was born. There just weren't any portraits of her. So it was decided that rather than burn them as planned they would mske minor adjustments and present them as paintings of the mother of Henry's heir. So this was symbolic rather than factual. In fact most of the populace had never seen Jane Seymour. In any csse Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour were related and could be ssid to somewhat resemble each other. But the person that Anne resembled the most was he 4:35 r daughter Elizabeth i. Tgere is a portrait of Elizsbeth at tge age of 13, and if you look at it and imagine her with dark red hair, then you would know what Anne Boleyn looked like.

[@dalestaley5637]

It's impossible to know. The nose that doesn't change with weight loss or gain is different.

[@DrOwenEmmerson]

That isn't scientifically true. Noses absolutely change over time - sometimes rapidly - and especially so during pregnancies, when estrogen, which relaxes blood vessels, can have quite significant changes to the shape of the nose. I'd highly recommend delving into more recent scientific analysis here.

[@karensprings4237]

Yes lookup pregnancy nose. It is absolutely a real phenomenon.

[@sisuguillam5109]

As someone who used to look at passports for a living: Nope. Noses fo change.

[@grumpy9721]

2:48 I beg your pardon, but I fail to see those eyes as "dark"; they seem light-blue to me.👀

[@DrOwenEmmerson]

You're absolutely pardoned! There is no blue pigment on this preparatory sketch. The form of the iris is realised solely from dark materials. Holbein shaded the form of the iris with the dominant pigment he was using for the preparatory drawing, regardless of the colour, and only applied the actual colour (in this case blue) in the final work.

[@elaineduker.6355]

She doesn't look sinister, at all😡just pensive.

[@DrOwenEmmerson]

I didn't say she looked sinister. If you rewatch, I said she is “looking to the sinister”. This is a term uses in art to tell us that she is looking to her left. Sinister (Latin for 'left')indicates the left-hand side as regarded by the bearer - the bearer's proper left, and to the right as seen by the viewer.