Anne in Image

The misattribution of Anne as Jane Seymour in this late 18th century print shows the lack of clear images associated with her in the historical imagination.

A 1738 portrait of Anne.

To understand the life and legacy of Anne Boleyn, one must start with what we know about how she looked. Given the disparities that exist in historical depictions of Anne, no definitive contemporary portrait of Anne exists. This section presents a visual of Anne through four iconic portraits, dating from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Anne’s varied fashion and physical features represent the culture not only of her lifetime but also that of the artists.

The image of Anne to the left is a 1738 portrait from a British volume on Heads of Illustrious persons of Great Britain. The grandeur of both the title and surrounding detail, which hints at her beheading, place her in dynastic English history. Its style will be replicated by the portrait seen at right, a late eighteenth-century print of Anne which similarly displays her in a late gable headdress. Beneath her handwritten name, one can spot a faded “Jane Seymour,” the name of Henry’s third wife. The two names suggest an early misattribution of the print.

The two portraits below showcase a parallel print and painting of Anne, both displaying her in a French hood, with a dripping pearl necklace. The oil painting is a late sixteenth-century work, thought to be based on a contemporary portrait. It has become iconic for the pearled “B” around her neck and now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Next to it lies a print in the same style, said to be a “miniature” of an “ancient original.”
 

Anne Boleyn, ca. late 16th century
© National Portrait Gallery, London

A stipple engraving and etching, ca. 1790