Anne Boleyn painting is ‘actually a different royal’, claims historian
A portrait of Anne Boleyn, held by the National Portrait Gallery, VIII. It may have been done to show the great similarities between Henry’s second wife and their daughter, Elizabeth I.
Researchers have suggested that the painting, painted in 1584, almost fifty years after Boleyn’s execution, was painted specifically to resemble Elizabeth I, an important feature to help Elizabeth gain greater legitimacy as monarch.
Co-curator of the new exhibition at Hever Castle, the ancestral home of the Boleyn family, Dr. Owen Emmerson said, “It is certainly a portrait of Anne Boleyn, and the artist intended it to be so. But it is more important than her likeness, because it carries political weight.”
“This is a very deliberate action and it’s not done retroactively. It’s commissioned this way. There’s an intention here. It serves a purpose.”
“If you look at the context of when it was created, it’s a really pivotal moment in Elizabeth’s reign. The main reason for that is that she was under increasing pressure from a lot of Catholic conspiracies that threatened her rule,” he said. Independent.
“He was excommunicated, so the pope gave his subjects permission to challenge and overthrow him, and this is exacerbated by the fact that he is no longer of childbearing age, unmarried, and therefore unable to look to the future to bolster his legitimacy.”
He said that at this time a pattern appeared in various portraits of Anne Boleyn that looked particularly like her daughter. Dr. Emmerson suggested that this was a shrewd move to “increase his legitimacy by looking to the past to solidify his claim to the throne.”
“This is a smart way to do it,” he said. She resembles her ancestors because her mother was executed for treason and adultery – there are widespread rumors [Elizabeth] “She’s not the daughter of Henry VIII, so she’s made to look like a Tudor in retrospect.”
Even though decades had passed since her mother’s death, Elizabeth I was willing to use the images as a form of propaganda as she faced growing concerns about her hold on the throne.
“This was not a carefully planned effort,” Dr Emmerson said. “Anne Boleyn shouldn’t look like a Tudor – she married a Tudor – but that’s beside the point. It’s a very visual way of showing Elizabeth’s legitimacy.”
He said the painting was most likely commissioned by a courtier for public display to show his devotion to Elizabeth. “This is a very bold way of declaring his legitimacy,” he said.
Literacy rates were low in the 16th century, so society was driven by a particularly visual language; “many images were conveyed through portraiture”.
“These weren’t cheap things to produce; they were quite expensive.”
The artist who painted the 1584 painting became known for his unique method of painting pearls.
Art historian Lawrence Hendra, working with gallerist and TV presenter Philip Mould, identified several paintings by the same artist due to the heavy use of paint in their depictions of pearls, and these paintings became known as “pearl painters” rather than by name.
Mr Hendra drew Dr Emmerson’s attention to this artist’s paintings of Anne Boleyn and another Catherine of Aragon, also exhibited at Hever Castle. This was when Dr Emmerson first noticed the mother-daughter resemblance in the pictures.
Dr Emmerson’s new book, Capturing the Queen: The Image of Anne BoleynWritten with Kate McCaffrey, assistant curator of Hever Castle.
An exhibition of the same name at Hever Castle opens on 11 February 2026 and presents the largest collection of artworks and artifacts related to Anne Boleyn ever shown in one place.
