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 Catherine Parr
A rare portrait of Catherine Parr, the woman famous for being the wife who survived Henry VIII, is being unveiled later today at Hever Castle.
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The听rare portrait of Catherine Parr: click on PICTURE GALLERY at the bottom of this column to view the full painting.
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| | | | | | PICTURE GALLERY | | | | | | View the full portrait by clicking here. | | | | | | | |
Click on the PICTURE GALLERY to view the full portrait.
Dating the portrait
Though the painter of the portrait is unknown, the Tudor historian and broadcaster Dr David Starkey sees in it a distinctive series of clues as to its probable date: the late 1520鈥檚. 鈥淭he English in the 16th century were craven followers of foreign fashions,鈥 Dr. Starkey told the programme, 鈥渁nd the fabric pulled out into a squashed witches-hat effect is quite a good way of dating her. In the following decade, the 1530鈥檚, ladies get into French dress, and suddenly get into very close-fitting head dresses of a completely different shape.鈥
Catherine the woman
If this dating is correct, at the time of her life that the portrait was painted Catherine was in her late teens, and married to her first husband: Edward, Lord Borough - the son of a rich northern nobleman. He's not the one who gave her the jewels she's wearing in the picture though. "Those wonderful pearls are a gift from her mother - left in her will, 鈥 said Starkey.
But sitting around a chilly northern castle in her mother鈥檚 pearls wasn鈥檛 all that Catherine was up to as a young woman. 鈥淚鈥檓 a northerner myself鈥, said Starkey, 鈥渁nd I get fed up with the idea that everything is chip-butties and primitivism. 16th century historians write about the North in the same way.鈥 Wrong, Starkey thinks. 鈥淐atherine first gets interested in education, first gets interested in radical new movements of religion in the north, in Yorkshire, with her friends up there - so this picture is taking us into a very different picture of Tudor England outside London from the one we commonly have.鈥
Catherine or Jane?
For all the clues as to the portrait鈥檚 date the identity of the sitter has in fact for years been under question. Until recently the picture was thought to be of Jane Seymour - Henry鈥檚听third wife: the woman formally betrothed to sweet Henry less than 24 hours after he had chopped off Anne Boleyn鈥檚 head. So is it Catherine? 鈥淧robably鈥︹, Dr Starkey thinks: 鈥渁lmost certainly. I think it is 90% likely, and that, for a Tudor Portrait, is pretty good.鈥
See the 'picture gallery' for the larger image and visit the for details of dates it's open to the public.
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