A New Image of Anne Boleyn? Re-Creations of the Mysterious Image Found Under Portrait of Elizabeth I
This x-ray image of a woman, found hidden underneath a 1580s portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, has fascinated researchers and the public. It’s led many to believe that this is a secret image of Elizabeth’s disgraced mother, Anne Boleyn, and that Elizabeth had purposely painted over this image to preserve her mother’s memory. But, is this image really of Anne Boleyn? And if it’s not, who could it be?
Fifteen years ago, the National Portrait gallery undertook some research for their Making Art in Tudor Britain project. The project revealed some unexpected characters underneath 16th century portraits, using Infrared Reflectography and X-rays.
The project revealed a virgin Mary and child underneath a portrait of Sir Francis Walsingham - Elizabeth I’s spymaster - ironic given that his spies heavily operated against Catholics.
It also revealed a devotional scene of Christ underneath a portrait of statesman Thomas Sackville.
But, the image that most interested the researchers was this portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, because it revealed what appeared to be a dark-haired, dark-eyed woman staring out from beneath the layers of paint.
In 1536, when Elizabeth was just 2 years old, her mother, Anne Boleyn was arrested by her father, King Henry VIII of England. After nearly 10 years together and one daughter, Anne was abruptly accused of adultery and sentenced to death. Rumors circulated that she was a witch who had seduced Henry. Of course, it’s commonly believed by historians that Anne was innocent of these accusations, and that Henry just wanted her out of the way so he could have a male heir with someone else.
After her death, most portraits of Anne were immediately destroyed. It’s the reason we hardly have any left for us today. The Tudor court tried to move on from her death as quickly, and as quietly, as possible - there was hardly a mention of the name Anne Boleyn for years after.
It’s hard to tell just how much impact this had on her daughter Elizabeth. During her life, Elizabeth rarely spoke of Anne, but we see physical evidence everywhere that Anne had a special place in her daughter’s heart.
Elizabeth acquired the very bed that Anne had given birth to her in. She decorated her home with the City of Ladies tapestries - the very same ones that Anne would have grown up around. She also wore the Chequers Ring - a double portrait ring showing both Anne and herself, side by side.
Anne Boleyn’s falcon symbol was featured in Elizabeth’s palaces, and also added to her very tomb in Westminster Abbey.
Painting panels were commonly re-used in Tudor times, they were valuable commodities. So was there be a hidden or personal meaning behind the re-use of this specific panel? Could Elizabeth have purposely been trying to preserve an image of her Mother, since so many were destroyed?
Let’s first take a look at the image we see today - This portrait of Queen Elizabeth was painted in the 1580s - and we can tell it’s been altered in multiple layers. Infrared revealed that the bunch of flowers in her hand were painted over what she was originally holding - a snake. Snakes can be emblems of wisdom, but in the religious environment the Tudors lived in, it was likely to be confused for a sign of the Devil. So as a result, it was painted over in the later stages of portrait.
This is another curious detail that connects the portrait to Anne Boleyn, who was famously accused of witchcraft.
When looking under the layers of Elizabeth’s painting, the researchers could see immediately that this hidden portrait was painted by someone highly skilled, but it appeared to be unfinished - only the head and some of the shoulders had been painted. They could make out a French Hood in the image, which is a style that Anne Boleyn was famous for wearing.
Royalty Now Recommended Reading:
The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn by Eric Ives
Use our Amazon affiliate link above to help support Royalty Now!
Here is my re-creation of the face beneath the layers of paint. Do you think it looks like Anne Boleyn?
This re-creation was challenging because this hidden face is somewhat incomplete. We can really only see the right side of her face, so I had to somewhat invent the jawline and ear. While her eyes and hair look dark, It was technically impossible to tell the hair or eye color, because of the nature of radiography like this - it will always be in black and white.
There is certainly some resemblance to Anne Boleyn - I see it especially in this Hever Castle Version.
However, there are quite a few reasons why this is not a portrait of Anne Boleyn.
Upon closer inspection, the style of her clothing is a little too late to be the fashion of Anne’s time. This type of French hood was worn in the 1570s and 80s. Another piece that’s barely visible is what appears to be a ruff - another fashion from about 40 years after Anne’s death.
The best evidence would be to date the panel using dendrochronology, so that’s what the researcher did next. They ultimately found that the wood came from a tree that was cut down between 1572 to 1582, which means that the panel was reused by Elizabeth only a few years after it was made.
Another reason is more emotional - Elizabeth already celebrated Anne Boleyn with her possessions, and had a portrait of Anne on her own finger, in the Chequers ring. She didn’t really need to hide an image of her mother or keep it a secret by this point in England.
So, unless this is a portrait commissioned later, of Anne Boleyn wearing 1580s attire, it’s not her. But then who could it be?
It’s reasonable to assume she’s someone of the high nobility - wealthy enough to have a portrait painted by a skilled painter, and important enough for Queen Elizabeth I to use the panel.
So I thought, what better use of my time than looking through every wife of every peer of England in the 1570s who would have appeared at court or been one of the Queen’s ladies between 1572 and 1582.
Unfortunately, many women’s portraits have been lost to time, or simply exist as poor quality images for us to view today. So it’s very possible this is one of the dozens of noblewomen at the time whose portrait no longer exists. But I did quite a bit of comparing to women whose portraits we do have.
I couldn’t find an immediate match among the most well known queens ladies - Bess of Hardwick, Kat Ashley, Catherine Carey, and Frances Walsingham. They were all eliminated based on being too old or young to be the portrait sitter.
I considered Lettice Knollys, which would be an extremely spicy match since she was a rival of Elizabeth’s - the wife of Elizabeth’s favorite Robert Dudley. She would be the correct age to sit for this portrait, and was around court during these years, but to me her face doesn’t match.
Here are some other comparisons - these women were all in Elizabeth’s service and the right age to pose for this portrait. It’s easiest to watch the video to get the visual comparisons - video linked below.
Margaret Russell, Mary Radcliffe, Elizabeth Throckmorton, Francis Sidney and Helena Snakenborg,
But to me, none of these ring true.
This question was really driving me nuts.
The only person I could think of who actually looked like this was Catherine Howard - and I’m shocked at the resemblance. But this doesn’t make sense, because she died 30 years earlier.
Comparison with a portrait of Catherine Howard.
It could possibly be a previous draft of a portrait of Elizabeth that was scrapped, although the features don’t quite match there either.
The best match I could find was with Frances Newton, the Baroness Cobham. She would have been in her 30s during the time this portrait was painted, and she was a lady of the bedchamber and close friend of Elizabeth I.
Comparison with Frances Newton, the Baroness Cobham.
While not a perfect match, I believe this is at least a contender.
So, do you have any theories about who this mystery woman might be? How do you feel about her resemblance to Anne Boleyn?