I was inspired to write this post today by a member of The Anne Boleyn Files Facebook page, Jane, who commented that the portrait of Elizabeth I on the cover of the latest issue of History Today looks like an older Anne Boleyn.
As you can see from looking at the National Portrait Gallery portrait of Anne Boleyn next to the Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger portrait of Elizabeth I in old age (see below), there is quite a resemblance between the two women – both have a long face with a pointed chin, the mouth is similar with its defined cupid’s bow, both have a similar nose, even though Elizabeth was said to have inherited the Beaufort hooked nose, both have defined cheekbones, both have dark eyes and the shapes of the eyes and eyebrows are pretty much identical. When we gaze at the Gheeraerts portrait, we are left thinking “Wow, that’s what Anne Boleyn would have looked like at that age!”
So, what can we conclude from these portraits?
In my opinion, we either conclude that Elizabeth looked more and more like her mother as she grew older or we conclude that the NPG portrait of Anne Boleyn is actually based on the Gheeraerts portrait of her daughter.
I’m not an art historian or art expert by any stretch of the imagination, so I can’t tell you a huge amount about these portraits, but the National Portrait Gallery have recently carried out an analysis of the portrait of Anne Boleyn, as part of their “Making Art in Tudor Britain” project and have found that it dates back to the late 16th century. As far as the Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger painting is concerned, we know that Elizabeth I was Gheeraerts’ patron in the last decade of the 16th century and that he painted the famous Ditchley Portrait of her in around 1592. The portrait of the older Elizabeth I must, therefore, also date to the 1590s or turn of the century. Could the paintings have been painted at a similar time? Was the Anne Boleyn portrait copied from the Elizabeth one? Were they both painted by Gheeraerts?
Take a look at the following video and tell me what you think.
Related posts:
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Elizabeth I Portrait to Go On Display in London
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Elizabeth I Phoenix Portrait
The Legacy of Anne Boleyn
What Did Elizabeth I Look Like?
The Elizabeth I Pelican Portrait
New Book – The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown
New Evidence Regarding the Phoenix and Pelican Portraits
The Armada Portrait
National Portrait Gallery Information on the Phoenix and Pelican Portraits
The Fall of Anne Boleyn
I know it could be quite a crazy idea 😉 but – maybe Queen Elizabeth I actually HAD a portrait of her mother (today we do not have exact portrait of Anne Boleyn, only some of how she could have look like) and she hide Anne’s portrait into her own? So that everyone could see her mother?
It is slightly creepy to see how similar the eyes are on that video. What an interesting idea, I would have never noticed that before. Wouldn’t it make sense to base the Anne Boleyn painting on the one of Elizabeth while adding features based on contemporary descriptions of her?
Wow! that’s interesting how similar they look! Although, the one of Elizabeth..She has a more pinched face then Anne, and her jaw is a little more triangular, her eyebrows less defined..And Anne seems to have a slightly more rounded chin compared to Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s forehead is closer to her eyebrows than Anne’s.. Anne has more forehead, and Anne has more “Horizontally” angled cheekbones and Elizabeth’s are more Vertically angled…Anne has an ovel face shape, and Elizabeth;s, though very similar, looks triangular. The nose and lips are the same, though Elizabeth seems to hold them poutier, and Anne holds her lips slightly tighter, and a little smile clearly visible.
Idk, but it is amazing to see the similarities between them..I do wonder if they were based on each other.
This is very interesting. It makes me wonder about the time period it was painted and why. If it was indeed painted in the late 16 century, why? I wonder if it was painted by the same painter. Here’s a thought…Maybe Elizabeth commissioned this piece of art? Elizabeth never did speak of her mother, but her ring showed that she still loved her very much and given the times, it probably wouldn’t have been a good time to speak about her. So maybe is Elizabeth’s older years she grew more nastoliagic and commissioned this painting from her own looks and from what she heard of what her mother actually looked like? It’s a long shot but very interesting.
Interesting. I would have said same face just from the juxtaposed portraits. Any speculation for the reason this was done? Or maybe it’s just misattribution.
There was a portrait of Elizabeth, 17thC from France, posted in the forum. Definitely not her – maybe MQS? The French and their sense of humour.
Sorry, I misunderstood the point. Surely the Boleyn portrait is older than the Elizabeth – so the Elizabeth is a copy of the Boleyn?
The both date to late 16th century so it could be either way round, a bit of a mystery!
Wow. I never really thought about it like that. But after seeing the video, I am thinking Elizabeth looked more and more like her mother Anne Boleyn. Interesting article. 🙂
Ok… Of course it’s possible that Anne and Elizabeth were similar in looks, they were after all mother and daughter! I think Elizabeth is the image of Anne in the portrait at the top right hand corner of this website.
Looking at the portraits side by side, I think you could consider that the portrait of Anne was based on the portrait of Elizabeth. This really is an interesting case!