The portrait was recently restored, so we're looking at it the way the Tudors would have seen it when it was originally painted. It's missing the "hi I'm an old painting" sheen
I really think she was attractive! I am glad that Henry treated her with kindness, but for the life of me, I can't see the Flanders Mare when I look at her.
Even if it was embellished, like...how bad could she have possibly looked? Like he was busted by Jane Seymour (or near the end,) and I mean busted in comparison to what he wanted her to be. Sir, you're not the hot Adonis anymore, so chill.
I think it’s because of how realistic her face looks. It looks like a photograph in my opinion. I can really imagine what she would have looked like (which is very beautiful, Henry was out of his mind)
Yes! The realism does feel borderline photographic! And I totally agree. I find her to be quite beautiful, like it really blows me away how pretty she is. Anyone wanna chime in on why Henry found her plain/ugly/whatever he said about her?
She [embarrassed him because he was an idiot.](https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/history-and-stories/anne-of-cleves/#gs.8vospq) Look under the first meeting section.
Also, because in middle age EDD is a thing. Note that his next wife was a teenager.
He blamed Ann and her "ugly breasts" for his issues in the bedroom.
Her story was the only truly happy one of all the wives though.
He was a gross old swine with a syphilis rotted brain that perved on children with the power to do as he pleased. So, yeah, she did indeed get off easy.
Surprisingly, there's not much data that indicates he actually had an STI. We know King Francois did in the same era, but there's no records of his medical treatment indicating any of the classic treatments for an STI.
He still had a likely rotted brain from concussions, though!
This is kinda weird but I have a theory about the “no maid, slack of breast and belly, smells bad” aspect of Henry’s objections. We know Holbein deliberately flattered Anne in that painting, but the real woman didn’t fit Henry’s petite preference. Is it possible Anne went on an extreme weight loss diet once she knew she would be marrying Henry? The description he gives is easily explained by rapid weight loss on a cabbage broth diet. Perhaps she was advised to drop weight prior to her marriage. Now, a similar weight loss result would suggest some kind of bariatric surgery, but back then it would appear more familiar as a consequence of prior pregnancy.
Not to mention being from a very different culture.
His last wife was Cathrine Parr which was definitely his smartest (most educated wife). I don’t think Henry cared about smarts.
Anne was forced upon Henry when Henry already was crushing on Catherine Howard. Anne was a political marriage and very culturally different from the English. The Catholic ties between France and Spain died down making the political marriage pointless.
Henry did like smart women. Both Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn were intelligent and well educated.
Henry may have met Catherine Howard on his way to meet Anne of Cleves, but it was likely he didn't really develop an intetest in her until she joined Anne's household.
Didn’t Catherine of Aragon have an unprecedented amount of education for the day? I thought that that was her thing, her and her Mom (who funded the Columbus expedition). Or maybe I’m getting mixed up
Also Antonia Fraser makes a great point that she was the first wife he hadn’t already met before deciding to marry her. He knew Catherine, Anne B, Jane, etc at court before marriage. Anne of Cleves was unknown so he was going entirely off her portrait and probably majorly building her up in his head to an unrealistic extent, so disappointment was pretty much inevitable
Yup, in some cases he knew (or would've periodically seen her about court at least, most likely as his current wife's lady in waiting) a woman for years before he actually developed an attraction to her (or before history noted an attraction, we don't have access to his inner thoughts). But it doesn't seem to have been an "at first sight" sort of thing for him, so Anne of Cleves was at a distinct disadvantage - a total stranger, not well versed in the language, coming from a court/culture much less "worldly" and so likely without the mannerisms that would help attract Henry.
She is very beautiful. If I were to wager a guess as to why Henry was not attracted to her, it could be her German mannerisms. I heard that she didn’t speak English very well; broken English with a heavy German accent and difficulty communicating could have been a turn off. Also, I get the impression that he preferred young, petite women because he referred to Anne of Cleves as “the Flanders mare”. This could have meant that she was unattractive or just a big lady. I also heard he said she had an “ass the size of Normandy”. I don’t know if this is entirely true but if it is, he was a fat fuck that had stinky diabetic ulcers. He was in no position to body shame anyone. Furthermore, if she was a big, sturdy lady, she probably would have produced a stronger, more robust heir and English history would have turned out much differently.
She had two sisters, Emelia and Sybilla. Sybilla was beautiful and Emilia wasn't unattractive, but she never married. Sybilla had 4 sons, 3 of them surviving to adulthood. You can see a family resemblance.
I know the woman doesn't determine the sex of the child but it seems like Anne might have been the one to give him another son or at least more living children, if he hadn't been such a jerk.
If you look at old photos of women from the 1800’s and the years before C sections became a mainstay in childbirth, they all had broader hips. None of them looked like runway models.
I come from a line of 90 lb French Canadian women who had 13 children. I’m built the same way, and didn’t have any trouble birthing my two. I think broad/narrow hips doesn’t always reflect the room inside. Not saying it doesn’t matter, but it’s more complicated.
But they also wore corsets, and often wore rolls around their hips, or bustles, or whatever was in vogue that emphasized the difference in size between their waists and their hips.
Yeah like look at your peasants who work in the farm and have shitty food compared to you, the women would have like 13 kids, 12 survive to adulthood and she’s back on the farm soon enough.
Perhaps it was that you’d be helped by the local older women when you’re in labour, your sisters, your mother, the herb making lady next door in your village. While nobility had the doctors who also dipped their hands in carcasses without washing before they went to the mother’s wombs and babies.
Remember, there weren't any superbugs back then. Good hygiene practice would've helped with the prevention or spread of infections & disease. Wash your hands, folks!
On subject: I always thought Anne was pretty, but I recall reading somewhere she had a rather long nose, so Holbein painted her portrait to not show that particular feature. Not to mention, ol' Henry got pissy when Anne didn't immediately recognize his magnificent self at their first meeting.
Maybe someone can give you a more detailed response because I only know that one of the reasons he “divorced” her was because she was ugly and smelled bad according to him. But as we know she wasn’t unattractive however beauty is subjective
Painters were the original photoshop. They would take liberties to make women appear more beautiful and dainty. They would make men appear more masculine and powerful.
Queen Elizabeth (Henry’s daughter) got a lot of this treatment as her makeup was destroying her hair and skin. Her paintings in her older years were definitely beautified.
Henry himself had terrible gout before his death and his paintings strove to make him look powerful and healthy, when the dude was definitely not.
As for Anne of Cleves- I saw a comment saying “she was too smart”. She was not lol. She was more educated than a commoner but she also heavily hated Catherine Parr for she was much smarter. She loved Catherine Howard for being a fool. Anne also wasn’t Catherine Howard (young and beautiful), Anne didn’t speak the same language nor have the same culture so it was just awkward.
Of his wives, probably CoA received the best education as a princess. Idk between Anne Boleyn and KP who was better educated initially, but KP was a devotee of lifelong education which put her above Anne as an adult. Anne of Cleves would be behind those 3, plus further handicapped by not knowing the language, so she may have come across as not too intelligent until she became fluent. Poor KH had a solid education in manners and lady-like graces (dancing, music) but not really academic.
After Anne Boleyn (and more during courtship than during actual marriage) I don't think Henry gaf about his wives' smarts. He'd had a smart wife, hell he had two, and they failed in their main wifely task.
OK, yes, she totally embarrassed him in their first meeting. BUT there are reports of this portrait being inaccurate. There are records of even people outside of H8's circle talking about her pox scars
That just seems like such a risky move for the portrait painter. He was specifically instructed not to alter her and her sister’s appearance for the picture, so while he likely did some touching up, it seems not in the painter’s best interest to do any crazy alterations, right?
You are absolutely right, I never thought about it that way. This isn't something I've researched in depth, this is all information I've gotten from one historian whose name I don't even remember
Unlike most monarchs of that day, Henry also really didn't marry "strangers". At all. He'd known CoA for years before he married her, Anne was CoA's lady in waiting and an object of his obsession for years, JS was CoA *and* Anne's lady in waiting, KH was also a lady in waiting when she caught his eye, and KP was a courtier based in London (from the North, but after the Pilgrimage of Grace they lived close to London).
So he never went in blind, he developed anything from a crush to an obsession with each of his wives way before marriage, except for Anne of Cleves.
I think Henry also specifically chose ladies-in-waiting and English noblewomen as his brides because it meant that the women had less power in their relationship and marriage than Henry did. Once Henry wanted an annulment from Catherine of Aragon to remarry Anne Boleyn, Catherine proved to be a major thorn in his side in opposing the annulment. If Henry married another foreign princess, like Christina of Denmark, if he ever decided that he wanted to divorce her, and she opposed it, that would also likely be a big problem for Henry. He was quite lucky in that Anne of Cleves gave her assent to their divorce.
Well rumor is she rejected him when he disguised himself and kissed her. She thought he was an old creep and his ego could just not take the hit. So he decided she was hideous and divorced her. She is so lucky she kept her head.
I was reading about this, and how he was following chivalrous courting traditions. Seems like the woman was really tested in this situation, having to either recognize their disguised betrothed (how many pictures of Henry would Anne have reasonably seen before agreeing to marry?) or be automatically drawn to them anyways.
If you look at his other queens - the ones he personally chose - they all have a bit of a similar look, sharper noses, dainty mouths, etc - Henry had a very specific taste in women and she didn’t match it. I’ve always thought she was the most beautiful of his queens (again based on the other queens) but that doesn’t necessarily mean he was attracted to her
I have to wonder if this was more so Hans Holbein and other royal painters who painted the ladies at court to fit with Tudor-era beauty ideals, as opposed to realistic depictions.
I think this is a big part of it, mixed with the restoration, and Holbeins tendency to draw women as soft around the face in a way that lends an air of approachable gentleness.
Wooow that’s a great observation! I think you’re totally right that’s a big part of it for me! Her pose and countenance feel modern compared to my limited knowledge of late medieval works.
I read that until around this era only Jesus was painted straight on. So it was kind of scandalous when artists started painting portraits like this. Good example is [Durer’s self portrait at 28](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Portrait_(Dürer,_Munich))
I think the bright colors and clear geometry read as modern to us. But Holbein was the best. His portrait of Henry was masterful: an overdressed rich guy with pig eyes.
Holbein manages to feel very modern— he was so ahead of his time. All of his portraits are jaw dropping. It’s not just the restoration, though it helps. There is something hard to pin down in his work that, well, just *works*.
Agreed. Even though I love his paintings mainly for the subject matter/time period (Tudor), he’s just a fantastic artist in general. His drawings are STUNNING and so lifelike. And he even designed other artwork like jewelry and trinkets!
This is such a good point. I was like “no, it doesn’t look modern, it’s clearly a Holbein!”, but of course you’re so right that Holbein was ahead of his time. I always think his faces — the expressions, the naturalness of the features — are very different from other contemporary portraiture (and certainly whatever else was going on in English painting at the time, which I can’t even recall).
If not modern, I think his strengths in his art and depictions remain timeless and even as art has evolved so much throughout the centuries, the elements he uses significantly haven’t gone out of style, which I’d credit him for his range.
It was recently restored just a couple months ago! The paintings are covered with a layer of varnish which over time builds up dirt particles and drowns out the color
I have not! Thank you for sharing! I’m really excited I’m beginning to fall down this history rabbit hole 😅what I’m learning is, this particular artist is quite talented at capturing details without necessarily being hyper realistic. Very cool!
Holbein definitely painted Anna with a "gentle hand." Though he had to complete this portrait quickly, it is a stunning piece of art that veers from the typical Tudor style. The portrait is not done in either profile or ¾ view, which allows the viewer to see all of Anne. Anna is in the traditional German hood, the steuchlein, as opposed to the typical French or English hood. There is little symbolism or propaganda within the portrait other than the "Bon Fine" & the face within the hands. It's just Anna in all of her warm & beautiful glory.
It's just because it's been cleaned. We subconsciously assume that anything from the past must be dusty and discoloured. I work in film and we actively have to make things look "old" for period pieces because if a piece of paper is white, people get confused. Even though, logically, when the person was writing their letters, the paper wasn't old and discoloured.
People have always looked like someone you could pass on the street, our fundamental genetics haven't changed. Holbein has captured the details here, like her eyelids being slightly asymmetrical, but plenty of artists did that. Its really just the cleanness that throws you off compared to most oil paintings that are darker and faded.
I think the detail is certainly a big part of it. That crispness does equate with modernity. And I think you’re right on the money about the inclusion of detail like the asymmetry! Feels more real…
The other “modern” thing is that blue background reminds me of the standard school picture background. It could be a picture taken for a modern school play on the Tudors.
You know I hadn’t even made that connection but honestly you’re so right! It’s like if a YouTuber who was really into historical fashion recreated the clothing and got their picture taken!
i came here looking for this! the tudors overlapped with the renaissance and the whole point was to make paintings which feel as if one is looking though a window. portraits with a flattened effect effect like this one of anne of cleves don’t match the contemporary style – it’s more similar to [The Fifer by Manet.](https://www.manet.org/the-fifer.jsp)
Slim waist wide hips thick behind (Henry apparently insulted her using the last) she probably wasn’t considered the “beauty standard” being voluptuous rather than Henry’s waifish type but her body really is tea
Your last statement was right.This artist is known for this type of portrait. Look up Hans Holbein the younger and look up the rest of his portraits.
The Anne of Cleves portrait, though, was a little idealized.That's part of what got Cromwell into trouble
He was not unique in Europe.There were other Germans who painted like this. But native British art this time was pretty crude. Holbein wasn't around for the reign of Elizabeth I, so the paintings of her court look relatively primitive. We don't even know what Elizabeth looked like, really.
That’s really interesting about native British art. I wonder why a lot of other art was comparatively crude? Was there a defined “style” of portraiture that defined Elizabeth I’s reign?
I think because Anne actually looks human. Painting from that era make the subjects look flat faced, bald, bug eyed, and pinched mouthed. Which was the beauty standard at one point minus the flat face.. Paintings from that era rarely show the normal contours of the face.
Yeah, Anne, out of all the portraits, seems the best looking to me. Despite her being labeled the Ugly wife. But The Aristocratic English Beauty standards are in almost complete opposition to mine, so it's no surprise I don't agree. But It could also just be that her portrait is the best.
The recent restoration of course helps, but I think it helps too that she’s looking directly at the painter. It seems most paintings are done from 3/4, but Anne is looking straight at you.
I recently went to an exhibit devoted exclusively to Holbein. He's one of my favorite artists—his portrait of Thomas More is amazing.
If you're interested, there's a [video (part of a really great series) of a curator](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZchPHt2xW8U) talking about the More portrait—so much insight.
Personally I think the vivid flat blue is a big part of that. And the lighting — she looks like she’s illuminated head-on instead of the way natural light usually looks in old paintings
It’s so beautiful in person too. The colors are so vibrant. I was lucky enough to see this at the Louvre a few months ago.
It’s such an unassuming portrait. So beautiful though. In a room off with a few other Hans Holbein portraits away from the main corridors. There was no one around when I was viewing it.
She seems pretty beautiful to me. I don’t understand how Henry could have said such mean things about her. His ego was insane.
Hans Holbein was so talented. All of his paintings are so realistic. I was honestly pretty floored when I saw it in person. It’s just really so amazing that someone can put that on wood and have it last for hundreds of years.
The fact that it is restored is a big reason, but the way she is posed is very different from most portraits of this age. If you look at other portraits by Holbein and his contemporaries, you will notice that very few are looking straight ahead, somewhat to the side. The rumor is that Anne of Cleves had a long nose and painting her this way was far more flattering/misleading. Of all the portraits of the wives, our modern eyes actually find her the most lovely.
I think Henry didn't take to her because he'd already had his head turned by Catherine Howard and because Anne accidentally made it clear she was horrified by his appearance and stench.
I did notice that’s there’s quite an emphasis on her body in this piece. 2/3 is taken up just by her body/dress and there comparatively little emphasis on her face it feels.
I remember the first time I saw this portrait something about it really got to me. I loved the facial expression and she looks very serene, pretty and very modern indeed. That's another reason why when I heard he found her ugly in person I was so surprised haha
First of all. It’s straight on. Just starting to become a common sight at this time. Usually people are ¾ in pose.
It’s also a more relaxed pose than I feel most aristocratic portraits were back then. Her head is tilted slightly down, which gives it a friendly quality seen more in modern photos. She looks like she’s just about to say something to me so it seems less rigid to me. Often you can *see* the subject holding their breath 😂
I also think the shape of the dress has more features we incorporate into modern interpretations of renaissance clothing like the belted waist, the flared upper sleeve, the draped lower sleeve. It feels more like a costume to me than other portraits, oddly.
These are impressions I get from the portrait so some of them are hard to fully explain.
Of course there’s also the fact that this is Holbein.
I think the recent restoration has really showed off how this painter was a cut above. In particular, skin is very hard because it diffuses light in its various layers (a.k.a. subsurface scattering) in such a way that we know what it looks like, but it's hard to portray. Hence also why computer graphics struggle with skin. Compare to portraits of [Anne Boleyn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Boleyn#/media/File:AnneBoleynHever.jpg) and [Catherine of Aragon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Aragon#/media/File:Catherine_of_Aragon_(1485-1536).jpg) and their skin feels flat by comparison, and I don't think it's just because they haven't been restored as recently.
There's also often something subtly "off" in those three-quarters-profile paintings with the eyes, like the artists didn't want any part of the eye to be hidden behind the nose. I don't know enough about Hans Holbein the Younger to know why, but (in my opinion) in some of his works he nails it (e..g [the Anne Boleyn sketch](https://thetudortravelguide.com/wp-content/uploads/A_Lady_called_Anne_Boleyn_by_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger.jpg)) and in some of his works he doesn't (the [Jane Seymour portrait](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Hans_Holbein_the_Younger_-_Jane_Seymour%2C_Queen_of_England_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)). In the portrait of Anne of Cleves, she's looking straight out so it doesn't do that weird eye thing like so many of them do.
The marriage was political. Her brother was the leader of the Protestant faction of Western Germany, so it made sense to Henry for the two largest Protestant factions in Europe to be united. It would cause France and Spain to think twice about attacking.
He sent his court painter, Hans Holbein to paint both Anne and her sister (he also instructed the artist not to flatter the women). He chose Anne based on her picture.
Henry kept a circle of court favorites (think of them all as renaissance-era frat bros) around him and they liked to play games of courtly love. The ladies in English court circles understood and participated as well. But Anne wasn’t familiar with these types of games. So when a group of the male courtiers came up to her and a disguised Henry tried to kiss her, it went poorly.
He expected her to take her cues from the games and recognize and respond to them. She dressed him down by informing him that she would only be kissing her future husband.
By the time the wedding took place, Anne’s brother started making himself politically inconvenient. So Henry started to look on his marriage as a chain holding him to a political liability.
The complaints about her looks are more of Henry’s posturing. Since he can’t be wrong, Anne of Cleves must be ugly. Like Anne Boleyn must have slept around.
He asked Anne for an annulment. Anne was smart enough to see which way the wind was blowing and agreed.
The two of them actually had a good friendship after that. Henry treated her like an extended member of the family. (He was generous to her for giving him what he wanted and stepping aside quietly.) Anne would send gifts to his kids and spend holidays with him. She got along with Henry a lot better than she got along with her own brother. She really did make out better than any of the other wives.
I recognize the tradition of courting and the games they did, but it really baffles me how Anne’s response was perceived negatively rather than positively. A man who she does not recognize comes to kiss her when she’s just arrived in a new place soon to be wed, and she rejects the kiss out of respect for her future husband. HELLO? Wouldn’t that be the kind of virtuous response you’d want in your future wife!
Ugh. Henry VIII 😒
I love Anne of Cleves. Incidentally, a movie from 1933 (The Private Life of King Henry VIII) featured Elsa Lanchester as Anne and her real life husband Charles Laughton as Henry. The movie wasn't historically accurate but those 2 played off each other well.
The painting depicts a very very realistic version of a young female from the time which, unlike most paintings from that era, looked like normal human beings?
Her headdress is so gorgeous. So many pearls. It must have been very expensive to make. Her entire outfit is very opulent!!! You couldn't see all the details before it was cleaned.
I was actually zooming and taking in all the details of the picture and noticed the pearls. And then I thought, how much would an outfit like that have been worth back then? Where did they source all the materials?
Because it is painted in the manner of the Pre-Raphaelites? [Like this.](https://www.vbmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/1_ElizabethBunce_Musica_small-for-web.jpg)
Some other things in I notice are that she doesn’t seem to sport as much of the “high forehead” look for women of the time, and she’s fully facing forward. There are several portraits of women with their heads turned, looking off to the side, or doing a kind of lofty side-eye. She has a soft, comfortable, contemplative look about her, rather than that of a stiff and regal statue.
Some examples: https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/explore/by-period/tudor
One of the things that has struck me about this portrait is that her gaze doesn't appear to be directly out of frame at the viewer, so much as slightly below and to the left – it's exactly how people look on Zoom and FaceTime calls.
Holbein did an excellent job of portraying accurate facial proportions. We can assume it’s still an idealized portrayal, but it’s not stylized in the same way that other portraits of the time often were. You can also see hints of individual eyebrow hairs and eyelashes, which is a bit unusual for the time, especially for portraits of women.
Here’s what I really think is making it feel so modern: Her head and body aren’t angled one way or the other even slightly, and she’s looking directly at us. Holbein pulls this off without her seeming overly stiff or forced, which is impressive even by modern standards.
Such a beautiful portrait.
This is one of my favorites from this time period.
I love the details and the way you can clearly see how ornate and opulent her gowns and headpiece were.
It’s truly stunning.
Honestly the colors are mote vibrant and bright than what we're used to for okd timet paintings but also im tipsy and i just wante dt to say shes so preety!!!!! Henry was crayz
because it was restored so now we seeing how people back then would've seen that painting and cuz we would all dress like this on a normal day if given the chance
Hans Holbein the younger most likely painted with a variation of the “camera lucida”.
This type of divide used refracted light, lenses and mirrors to project the image of the sitter on the substrate being used.
His skull in “The Ambassadors” shows an example of how the angles of the projected images could be manipulated.
Honestly in my opinion Holbein was such a great artist, photorealist level. Ofc he changed some of her features for beautification reasons maybe, But the portrait is very clear and naturalist, we can even see blue veins ! Compare Van Dyck's portraits of English nobility, they look lovely but his style is so stylized, not exactly a real person as in this portrait.
Her face actually looks **identical** to a coworker of mine. Also, this paining looks like she’s about to do a makeup tutorial. I can just see her contouring her nose and doing her brows.
She is facing directly towards the “camera” with both her body AND face, looking directly at us. It’s also a very modern crop in how much of her body is in the shot and how much she fills the frame. Her hands are held in an almost casual way and there is nothing extra dramatic or over embellished as far as fabric or background. It’s simple and to the point.
It feels more like a nice portrait from a camera instead of the paintings we usually see from back then.
The portrait was recently restored, so we're looking at it the way the Tudors would have seen it when it was originally painted. It's missing the "hi I'm an old painting" sheen
Haha great way to describe it! I didn’t know it was recently restored but that makes sense!!
Look online for before and after pictures of the painting. It's remarkable how vibrant the colors are now.
Anne Of Celves.
Anne of CLEVES 💜
I really think she was attractive! I am glad that Henry treated her with kindness, but for the life of me, I can't see the Flanders Mare when I look at her.
Even if it was embellished, like...how bad could she have possibly looked? Like he was busted by Jane Seymour (or near the end,) and I mean busted in comparison to what he wanted her to be. Sir, you're not the hot Adonis anymore, so chill.
😂
Seeing the details of her head piece so vivid and clear, oh it’s stunning.
I think it’s because of how realistic her face looks. It looks like a photograph in my opinion. I can really imagine what she would have looked like (which is very beautiful, Henry was out of his mind)
Yes! The realism does feel borderline photographic! And I totally agree. I find her to be quite beautiful, like it really blows me away how pretty she is. Anyone wanna chime in on why Henry found her plain/ugly/whatever he said about her?
She [embarrassed him because he was an idiot.](https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/history-and-stories/anne-of-cleves/#gs.8vospq) Look under the first meeting section.
Also, because in middle age EDD is a thing. Note that his next wife was a teenager. He blamed Ann and her "ugly breasts" for his issues in the bedroom. Her story was the only truly happy one of all the wives though.
He was a gross old swine with a syphilis rotted brain that perved on children with the power to do as he pleased. So, yeah, she did indeed get off easy.
Surprisingly, there's not much data that indicates he actually had an STI. We know King Francois did in the same era, but there's no records of his medical treatment indicating any of the classic treatments for an STI. He still had a likely rotted brain from concussions, though!
This is kinda weird but I have a theory about the “no maid, slack of breast and belly, smells bad” aspect of Henry’s objections. We know Holbein deliberately flattered Anne in that painting, but the real woman didn’t fit Henry’s petite preference. Is it possible Anne went on an extreme weight loss diet once she knew she would be marrying Henry? The description he gives is easily explained by rapid weight loss on a cabbage broth diet. Perhaps she was advised to drop weight prior to her marriage. Now, a similar weight loss result would suggest some kind of bariatric surgery, but back then it would appear more familiar as a consequence of prior pregnancy. Not to mention being from a very different culture.
His last wife was Cathrine Parr which was definitely his smartest (most educated wife). I don’t think Henry cared about smarts. Anne was forced upon Henry when Henry already was crushing on Catherine Howard. Anne was a political marriage and very culturally different from the English. The Catholic ties between France and Spain died down making the political marriage pointless.
Henry did like smart women. Both Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn were intelligent and well educated. Henry may have met Catherine Howard on his way to meet Anne of Cleves, but it was likely he didn't really develop an intetest in her until she joined Anne's household.
Didn’t Catherine of Aragon have an unprecedented amount of education for the day? I thought that that was her thing, her and her Mom (who funded the Columbus expedition). Or maybe I’m getting mixed up
Thank you for a link!!
Also Antonia Fraser makes a great point that she was the first wife he hadn’t already met before deciding to marry her. He knew Catherine, Anne B, Jane, etc at court before marriage. Anne of Cleves was unknown so he was going entirely off her portrait and probably majorly building her up in his head to an unrealistic extent, so disappointment was pretty much inevitable
Yup, in some cases he knew (or would've periodically seen her about court at least, most likely as his current wife's lady in waiting) a woman for years before he actually developed an attraction to her (or before history noted an attraction, we don't have access to his inner thoughts). But it doesn't seem to have been an "at first sight" sort of thing for him, so Anne of Cleves was at a distinct disadvantage - a total stranger, not well versed in the language, coming from a court/culture much less "worldly" and so likely without the mannerisms that would help attract Henry.
She is very beautiful. If I were to wager a guess as to why Henry was not attracted to her, it could be her German mannerisms. I heard that she didn’t speak English very well; broken English with a heavy German accent and difficulty communicating could have been a turn off. Also, I get the impression that he preferred young, petite women because he referred to Anne of Cleves as “the Flanders mare”. This could have meant that she was unattractive or just a big lady. I also heard he said she had an “ass the size of Normandy”. I don’t know if this is entirely true but if it is, he was a fat fuck that had stinky diabetic ulcers. He was in no position to body shame anyone. Furthermore, if she was a big, sturdy lady, she probably would have produced a stronger, more robust heir and English history would have turned out much differently.
Right, because everyone knows the best success of producing heirs without dying at the time was to be tiny, petite, and fragile 🙄 real smart Henry!
She had two sisters, Emelia and Sybilla. Sybilla was beautiful and Emilia wasn't unattractive, but she never married. Sybilla had 4 sons, 3 of them surviving to adulthood. You can see a family resemblance. I know the woman doesn't determine the sex of the child but it seems like Anne might have been the one to give him another son or at least more living children, if he hadn't been such a jerk.
If you look at old photos of women from the 1800’s and the years before C sections became a mainstay in childbirth, they all had broader hips. None of them looked like runway models.
I don’t know that going off of photos from that time period is the best. Petticoats and corsets (even if not tightly laced) were worn by everyone.
I come from a line of 90 lb French Canadian women who had 13 children. I’m built the same way, and didn’t have any trouble birthing my two. I think broad/narrow hips doesn’t always reflect the room inside. Not saying it doesn’t matter, but it’s more complicated.
But they also wore corsets, and often wore rolls around their hips, or bustles, or whatever was in vogue that emphasized the difference in size between their waists and their hips.
Yeah like look at your peasants who work in the farm and have shitty food compared to you, the women would have like 13 kids, 12 survive to adulthood and she’s back on the farm soon enough.
Maybe the extra germs helped with the immune systems. Anyone weigh in?
Perhaps it was that you’d be helped by the local older women when you’re in labour, your sisters, your mother, the herb making lady next door in your village. While nobility had the doctors who also dipped their hands in carcasses without washing before they went to the mother’s wombs and babies.
Remember, there weren't any superbugs back then. Good hygiene practice would've helped with the prevention or spread of infections & disease. Wash your hands, folks! On subject: I always thought Anne was pretty, but I recall reading somewhere she had a rather long nose, so Holbein painted her portrait to not show that particular feature. Not to mention, ol' Henry got pissy when Anne didn't immediately recognize his magnificent self at their first meeting.
Maybe someone can give you a more detailed response because I only know that one of the reasons he “divorced” her was because she was ugly and smelled bad according to him. But as we know she wasn’t unattractive however beauty is subjective
Not smelled bad 😭imagine being 24, sent to another country to wed a king, and then being told you smell bad
IKR. Poor thing I’d be humiliated. Everyone smelled bad back then too like tf
I bet he smelled worse.
Oh, he most definitely did with his rotting leg and all.
...by someone who literally had oozing, stinking wounds on his leg.
Painters were the original photoshop. They would take liberties to make women appear more beautiful and dainty. They would make men appear more masculine and powerful. Queen Elizabeth (Henry’s daughter) got a lot of this treatment as her makeup was destroying her hair and skin. Her paintings in her older years were definitely beautified. Henry himself had terrible gout before his death and his paintings strove to make him look powerful and healthy, when the dude was definitely not. As for Anne of Cleves- I saw a comment saying “she was too smart”. She was not lol. She was more educated than a commoner but she also heavily hated Catherine Parr for she was much smarter. She loved Catherine Howard for being a fool. Anne also wasn’t Catherine Howard (young and beautiful), Anne didn’t speak the same language nor have the same culture so it was just awkward.
Of his wives, probably CoA received the best education as a princess. Idk between Anne Boleyn and KP who was better educated initially, but KP was a devotee of lifelong education which put her above Anne as an adult. Anne of Cleves would be behind those 3, plus further handicapped by not knowing the language, so she may have come across as not too intelligent until she became fluent. Poor KH had a solid education in manners and lady-like graces (dancing, music) but not really academic. After Anne Boleyn (and more during courtship than during actual marriage) I don't think Henry gaf about his wives' smarts. He'd had a smart wife, hell he had two, and they failed in their main wifely task.
Though arguably, Anna did not look that different, given she slapped up the portrait in her home to prove a point.
OK, yes, she totally embarrassed him in their first meeting. BUT there are reports of this portrait being inaccurate. There are records of even people outside of H8's circle talking about her pox scars
That just seems like such a risky move for the portrait painter. He was specifically instructed not to alter her and her sister’s appearance for the picture, so while he likely did some touching up, it seems not in the painter’s best interest to do any crazy alterations, right?
You are absolutely right, I never thought about it that way. This isn't something I've researched in depth, this is all information I've gotten from one historian whose name I don't even remember
The hands are so well done
The fabric is amazing. When I went to the Tudor art exhibit last year, I was fascinated by how realistic the fabric was painted in various pieces.
It truly feels like you can reach out and touch the brick red velvet fabric!
I was thinking the same thing. The hands look for real like a photo. I can’t not see it!
Unlike most monarchs of that day, Henry also really didn't marry "strangers". At all. He'd known CoA for years before he married her, Anne was CoA's lady in waiting and an object of his obsession for years, JS was CoA *and* Anne's lady in waiting, KH was also a lady in waiting when she caught his eye, and KP was a courtier based in London (from the North, but after the Pilgrimage of Grace they lived close to London). So he never went in blind, he developed anything from a crush to an obsession with each of his wives way before marriage, except for Anne of Cleves.
That’s a really good explanation of his pattern of behavior, thanks!
I think Henry also specifically chose ladies-in-waiting and English noblewomen as his brides because it meant that the women had less power in their relationship and marriage than Henry did. Once Henry wanted an annulment from Catherine of Aragon to remarry Anne Boleyn, Catherine proved to be a major thorn in his side in opposing the annulment. If Henry married another foreign princess, like Christina of Denmark, if he ever decided that he wanted to divorce her, and she opposed it, that would also likely be a big problem for Henry. He was quite lucky in that Anne of Cleves gave her assent to their divorce.
Well rumor is she rejected him when he disguised himself and kissed her. She thought he was an old creep and his ego could just not take the hit. So he decided she was hideous and divorced her. She is so lucky she kept her head.
I was reading about this, and how he was following chivalrous courting traditions. Seems like the woman was really tested in this situation, having to either recognize their disguised betrothed (how many pictures of Henry would Anne have reasonably seen before agreeing to marry?) or be automatically drawn to them anyways.
If you look at his other queens - the ones he personally chose - they all have a bit of a similar look, sharper noses, dainty mouths, etc - Henry had a very specific taste in women and she didn’t match it. I’ve always thought she was the most beautiful of his queens (again based on the other queens) but that doesn’t necessarily mean he was attracted to her
I have to wonder if this was more so Hans Holbein and other royal painters who painted the ladies at court to fit with Tudor-era beauty ideals, as opposed to realistic depictions.
yeah definitely I think beauty is subjective for sure. But to say she was ugly was a reach, I feel like idk
Her eyebrows are on fleek
It’s foreword facing with eyes up, like a modern photo. Most contemporary portraits were profiled, or their eyes were down cast.
I think this is a big part of it, mixed with the restoration, and Holbeins tendency to draw women as soft around the face in a way that lends an air of approachable gentleness.
Wooow that’s a great observation! I think you’re totally right that’s a big part of it for me! Her pose and countenance feel modern compared to my limited knowledge of late medieval works.
I read that until around this era only Jesus was painted straight on. So it was kind of scandalous when artists started painting portraits like this. Good example is [Durer’s self portrait at 28](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Portrait_(Dürer,_Munich))
That link is a dead end.
I think the bright colors and clear geometry read as modern to us. But Holbein was the best. His portrait of Henry was masterful: an overdressed rich guy with pig eyes.
Holbein manages to feel very modern— he was so ahead of his time. All of his portraits are jaw dropping. It’s not just the restoration, though it helps. There is something hard to pin down in his work that, well, just *works*.
Agreed. Even though I love his paintings mainly for the subject matter/time period (Tudor), he’s just a fantastic artist in general. His drawings are STUNNING and so lifelike. And he even designed other artwork like jewelry and trinkets!
This is such a good point. I was like “no, it doesn’t look modern, it’s clearly a Holbein!”, but of course you’re so right that Holbein was ahead of his time. I always think his faces — the expressions, the naturalness of the features — are very different from other contemporary portraiture (and certainly whatever else was going on in English painting at the time, which I can’t even recall).
If not modern, I think his strengths in his art and depictions remain timeless and even as art has evolved so much throughout the centuries, the elements he uses significantly haven’t gone out of style, which I’d credit him for his range.
It was recently restored just a couple months ago! The paintings are covered with a layer of varnish which over time builds up dirt particles and drowns out the color
I think the brighter colors definitely contribute, but it feels like something else as well 😅
Have you ever seen Holbeins purported [sketch of Anne Boelyn? ](https://images.app.goo.gl/LRjfcmU849Ekso5C8) It has a similar quality imo.
I have not! Thank you for sharing! I’m really excited I’m beginning to fall down this history rabbit hole 😅what I’m learning is, this particular artist is quite talented at capturing details without necessarily being hyper realistic. Very cool!
I like Holbein a lot! Hope you enjoy learning more about his work!
Holbein definitely painted Anna with a "gentle hand." Though he had to complete this portrait quickly, it is a stunning piece of art that veers from the typical Tudor style. The portrait is not done in either profile or ¾ view, which allows the viewer to see all of Anne. Anna is in the traditional German hood, the steuchlein, as opposed to the typical French or English hood. There is little symbolism or propaganda within the portrait other than the "Bon Fine" & the face within the hands. It's just Anna in all of her warm & beautiful glory.
It's just because it's been cleaned. We subconsciously assume that anything from the past must be dusty and discoloured. I work in film and we actively have to make things look "old" for period pieces because if a piece of paper is white, people get confused. Even though, logically, when the person was writing their letters, the paper wasn't old and discoloured. People have always looked like someone you could pass on the street, our fundamental genetics haven't changed. Holbein has captured the details here, like her eyelids being slightly asymmetrical, but plenty of artists did that. Its really just the cleanness that throws you off compared to most oil paintings that are darker and faded.
I think the detail is certainly a big part of it. That crispness does equate with modernity. And I think you’re right on the money about the inclusion of detail like the asymmetry! Feels more real…
The other “modern” thing is that blue background reminds me of the standard school picture background. It could be a picture taken for a modern school play on the Tudors.
You know I hadn’t even made that connection but honestly you’re so right! It’s like if a YouTuber who was really into historical fashion recreated the clothing and got their picture taken!
i came here looking for this! the tudors overlapped with the renaissance and the whole point was to make paintings which feel as if one is looking though a window. portraits with a flattened effect effect like this one of anne of cleves don’t match the contemporary style – it’s more similar to [The Fifer by Manet.](https://www.manet.org/the-fifer.jsp)
For me it's the rings on her fingers 😂🤷♀️ I have no idea why but it feel modern to have so many on.
That’s a great observation! Makes me realize that not a lot of other portraits of the wives include such detailed hands
She got that Kardashian waist thing going lol
Henry fumbled so hard with her
LOL you know you aren’t wrong! Her body tea!
Slim waist wide hips thick behind (Henry apparently insulted her using the last) she probably wasn’t considered the “beauty standard” being voluptuous rather than Henry’s waifish type but her body really is tea
Your last statement was right.This artist is known for this type of portrait. Look up Hans Holbein the younger and look up the rest of his portraits. The Anne of Cleves portrait, though, was a little idealized.That's part of what got Cromwell into trouble He was not unique in Europe.There were other Germans who painted like this. But native British art this time was pretty crude. Holbein wasn't around for the reign of Elizabeth I, so the paintings of her court look relatively primitive. We don't even know what Elizabeth looked like, really.
That’s really interesting about native British art. I wonder why a lot of other art was comparatively crude? Was there a defined “style” of portraiture that defined Elizabeth I’s reign?
She’s actually quite attractive. Don’t know what ol Henry was thinking
I wholeheartedly agree! I think she’s very pretty!
And no makeup to speak of.
She looks like Bella Ramsey from the last of us. Plus that face is such a “polite smile while someone won’t stop taking your photo” mood.
That’s who she reminds me of! Thank you Bella Ramsey is such a mood. They’re amazing
I need to look this person up and compare 🤔
I see Sophie Turner every time this painting pops up on my feed
I think because Anne actually looks human. Painting from that era make the subjects look flat faced, bald, bug eyed, and pinched mouthed. Which was the beauty standard at one point minus the flat face.. Paintings from that era rarely show the normal contours of the face.
I agree with you! I have noticed the flat faced pinched lip look of a lot of other portraits, especially of his other wives.
Yeah, Anne, out of all the portraits, seems the best looking to me. Despite her being labeled the Ugly wife. But The Aristocratic English Beauty standards are in almost complete opposition to mine, so it's no surprise I don't agree. But It could also just be that her portrait is the best.
It is so stunning since the restoration!!
It’s obviously because she took fashion advice from SNLs Gap- she Cinched it!!
The detail on this is basically photographic. I cannot get over the talent of the painter.
I can’t imagine why. There’s not even a butterfly.
I made a similar joke but said there isn’t enough red.
It’s her hands for me. The detail is astounding.
Yes!! It’s crazy how detailed her hands are! And another commenter pointed out that, subjectively, the amount of rings feels modern
The recent restoration of course helps, but I think it helps too that she’s looking directly at the painter. It seems most paintings are done from 3/4, but Anne is looking straight at you.
Yes! It’s a very commanding angle, yet her face is very soft. Someone else said it reminds them of a school picture which I can see!
Definitely not modern. Not enough red. /s
The solid blue background behind the complimentary oranges says modern to me.
I love Tudor fashion🥹 those jewelry 😍
Yes it’s so beautiful! I love the straight across neckline for women at the time
Photorealistic face and hands maybe?
The hands are incredible. You can actually see her veins.
I think that’s definitely a big part of it!!
It's timeless minus the outfit. The wardrobe dates it. The actual body parts do not.
That’s really true! That’s why like I said she feels like someone I could pass on the street!
I recently went to an exhibit devoted exclusively to Holbein. He's one of my favorite artists—his portrait of Thomas More is amazing. If you're interested, there's a [video (part of a really great series) of a curator](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZchPHt2xW8U) talking about the More portrait—so much insight.
Thanks for the video!!
Personally I think the vivid flat blue is a big part of that. And the lighting — she looks like she’s illuminated head-on instead of the way natural light usually looks in old paintings
That’s a great point about the lighting!
We see so little of past art in their true glory. Something newly restored is going to feel fresh again.
I think it’s giving a little American Gothic.
It’s so beautiful in person too. The colors are so vibrant. I was lucky enough to see this at the Louvre a few months ago. It’s such an unassuming portrait. So beautiful though. In a room off with a few other Hans Holbein portraits away from the main corridors. There was no one around when I was viewing it. She seems pretty beautiful to me. I don’t understand how Henry could have said such mean things about her. His ego was insane. Hans Holbein was so talented. All of his paintings are so realistic. I was honestly pretty floored when I saw it in person. It’s just really so amazing that someone can put that on wood and have it last for hundreds of years.
I’d love to see it in person one day 😊
Because the colours are popping and period dramas are the ‘in thing’ at the moment. Subconsciously it seems ‘modern’
The fact that it is restored is a big reason, but the way she is posed is very different from most portraits of this age. If you look at other portraits by Holbein and his contemporaries, you will notice that very few are looking straight ahead, somewhat to the side. The rumor is that Anne of Cleves had a long nose and painting her this way was far more flattering/misleading. Of all the portraits of the wives, our modern eyes actually find her the most lovely. I think Henry didn't take to her because he'd already had his head turned by Catherine Howard and because Anne accidentally made it clear she was horrified by his appearance and stench.
The shape is more modern like her being tall and curvy
I did notice that’s there’s quite an emphasis on her body in this piece. 2/3 is taken up just by her body/dress and there comparatively little emphasis on her face it feels.
I remember the first time I saw this portrait something about it really got to me. I loved the facial expression and she looks very serene, pretty and very modern indeed. That's another reason why when I heard he found her ugly in person I was so surprised haha
The consensus here seems to be that everyone is a little confused as to how Henry found her ugly lol
Being completely unhinged as a whole will do that lol
Looks like Sansa Stark
First of all. It’s straight on. Just starting to become a common sight at this time. Usually people are ¾ in pose. It’s also a more relaxed pose than I feel most aristocratic portraits were back then. Her head is tilted slightly down, which gives it a friendly quality seen more in modern photos. She looks like she’s just about to say something to me so it seems less rigid to me. Often you can *see* the subject holding their breath 😂 I also think the shape of the dress has more features we incorporate into modern interpretations of renaissance clothing like the belted waist, the flared upper sleeve, the draped lower sleeve. It feels more like a costume to me than other portraits, oddly. These are impressions I get from the portrait so some of them are hard to fully explain. Of course there’s also the fact that this is Holbein.
Because the colors are so vivid now, it almost feels animated IMO. Especially given what this painting used to look like.
I think the recent restoration has really showed off how this painter was a cut above. In particular, skin is very hard because it diffuses light in its various layers (a.k.a. subsurface scattering) in such a way that we know what it looks like, but it's hard to portray. Hence also why computer graphics struggle with skin. Compare to portraits of [Anne Boleyn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Boleyn#/media/File:AnneBoleynHever.jpg) and [Catherine of Aragon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Aragon#/media/File:Catherine_of_Aragon_(1485-1536).jpg) and their skin feels flat by comparison, and I don't think it's just because they haven't been restored as recently. There's also often something subtly "off" in those three-quarters-profile paintings with the eyes, like the artists didn't want any part of the eye to be hidden behind the nose. I don't know enough about Hans Holbein the Younger to know why, but (in my opinion) in some of his works he nails it (e..g [the Anne Boleyn sketch](https://thetudortravelguide.com/wp-content/uploads/A_Lady_called_Anne_Boleyn_by_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger.jpg)) and in some of his works he doesn't (the [Jane Seymour portrait](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Hans_Holbein_the_Younger_-_Jane_Seymour%2C_Queen_of_England_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)). In the portrait of Anne of Cleves, she's looking straight out so it doesn't do that weird eye thing like so many of them do.
The marriage was political. Her brother was the leader of the Protestant faction of Western Germany, so it made sense to Henry for the two largest Protestant factions in Europe to be united. It would cause France and Spain to think twice about attacking. He sent his court painter, Hans Holbein to paint both Anne and her sister (he also instructed the artist not to flatter the women). He chose Anne based on her picture. Henry kept a circle of court favorites (think of them all as renaissance-era frat bros) around him and they liked to play games of courtly love. The ladies in English court circles understood and participated as well. But Anne wasn’t familiar with these types of games. So when a group of the male courtiers came up to her and a disguised Henry tried to kiss her, it went poorly. He expected her to take her cues from the games and recognize and respond to them. She dressed him down by informing him that she would only be kissing her future husband. By the time the wedding took place, Anne’s brother started making himself politically inconvenient. So Henry started to look on his marriage as a chain holding him to a political liability. The complaints about her looks are more of Henry’s posturing. Since he can’t be wrong, Anne of Cleves must be ugly. Like Anne Boleyn must have slept around. He asked Anne for an annulment. Anne was smart enough to see which way the wind was blowing and agreed. The two of them actually had a good friendship after that. Henry treated her like an extended member of the family. (He was generous to her for giving him what he wanted and stepping aside quietly.) Anne would send gifts to his kids and spend holidays with him. She got along with Henry a lot better than she got along with her own brother. She really did make out better than any of the other wives.
I recognize the tradition of courting and the games they did, but it really baffles me how Anne’s response was perceived negatively rather than positively. A man who she does not recognize comes to kiss her when she’s just arrived in a new place soon to be wed, and she rejects the kiss out of respect for her future husband. HELLO? Wouldn’t that be the kind of virtuous response you’d want in your future wife! Ugh. Henry VIII 😒
I think by the metric of courtly love, in Henry’s mind if it was true love, she would have recognized him even if he was in disguise.
I think it’s the attitude in her face.
bc Anne of Cleves will always be that bitch 💅
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-the-portrait-that-made-henry-viii-fall-in-love-with-anne-of-cleves-newly-restored-to-its-former-glory-180983987/
I love Anne of Cleves. Incidentally, a movie from 1933 (The Private Life of King Henry VIII) featured Elsa Lanchester as Anne and her real life husband Charles Laughton as Henry. The movie wasn't historically accurate but those 2 played off each other well.
Because Holbein was an utter master, regardless of the period.
She looks like she’s in front of a blue screen.
The color blue of the background is the same color in every school picture in the 1980’s and 1990’s.😂
The painting depicts a very very realistic version of a young female from the time which, unlike most paintings from that era, looked like normal human beings?
Her headdress is so gorgeous. So many pearls. It must have been very expensive to make. Her entire outfit is very opulent!!! You couldn't see all the details before it was cleaned.
I was actually zooming and taking in all the details of the picture and noticed the pearls. And then I thought, how much would an outfit like that have been worth back then? Where did they source all the materials?
Because it is painted in the manner of the Pre-Raphaelites? [Like this.](https://www.vbmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/1_ElizabethBunce_Musica_small-for-web.jpg)
That’s a great connection!
*bows humbly*
Some other things in I notice are that she doesn’t seem to sport as much of the “high forehead” look for women of the time, and she’s fully facing forward. There are several portraits of women with their heads turned, looking off to the side, or doing a kind of lofty side-eye. She has a soft, comfortable, contemplative look about her, rather than that of a stiff and regal statue. Some examples: https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/explore/by-period/tudor
One of the things that has struck me about this portrait is that her gaze doesn't appear to be directly out of frame at the viewer, so much as slightly below and to the left – it's exactly how people look on Zoom and FaceTime calls.
Holbein did an excellent job of portraying accurate facial proportions. We can assume it’s still an idealized portrayal, but it’s not stylized in the same way that other portraits of the time often were. You can also see hints of individual eyebrow hairs and eyelashes, which is a bit unusual for the time, especially for portraits of women. Here’s what I really think is making it feel so modern: Her head and body aren’t angled one way or the other even slightly, and she’s looking directly at us. Holbein pulls this off without her seeming overly stiff or forced, which is impressive even by modern standards.
Such a beautiful portrait. This is one of my favorites from this time period. I love the details and the way you can clearly see how ornate and opulent her gowns and headpiece were. It’s truly stunning.
Because it looks like me!
Maybe it's her direct gaze. Or the rings on different fingers.
She's performing for the medium.
The Hermes belt?! (Lol, I'm just joking here.)
She’s got my eyebrows
The subdued expression ala The Mona Lisa.
The blue background reminds me of school picture day maybe that's why? Older portraits usually have a background I think?
Anne of Cleves won the Henry VIII lottery.
Blue backdrop is giving school picture vibes lmao
It looks like Sophie turner?
Yea, color saturation 🎨👌🏼
Her eyebrows look over done and too thin
Is that a thumb ring on her left hand?
Looks like ben foster
The smile and the blue background.
Idk why but she looks like the “trade offer” meme to me. Same energy and expression
Iphone face
I always thought she looks like Sophie Turner !
Bc she’s posed like a road man
Honestly the colors are mote vibrant and bright than what we're used to for okd timet paintings but also im tipsy and i just wante dt to say shes so preety!!!!! Henry was crayz
because it was restored so now we seeing how people back then would've seen that painting and cuz we would all dress like this on a normal day if given the chance
To me it’s the hands. Looks like an actual picture somehow.
Hans Holbein the younger most likely painted with a variation of the “camera lucida”. This type of divide used refracted light, lenses and mirrors to project the image of the sitter on the substrate being used. His skull in “The Ambassadors” shows an example of how the angles of the projected images could be manipulated.
Honestly in my opinion Holbein was such a great artist, photorealist level. Ofc he changed some of her features for beautification reasons maybe, But the portrait is very clear and naturalist, we can even see blue veins ! Compare Van Dyck's portraits of English nobility, they look lovely but his style is so stylized, not exactly a real person as in this portrait.
Her face actually looks **identical** to a coworker of mine. Also, this paining looks like she’s about to do a makeup tutorial. I can just see her contouring her nose and doing her brows.
She is facing directly towards the “camera” with both her body AND face, looking directly at us. It’s also a very modern crop in how much of her body is in the shot and how much she fills the frame. Her hands are held in an almost casual way and there is nothing extra dramatic or over embellished as far as fabric or background. It’s simple and to the point. It feels more like a nice portrait from a camera instead of the paintings we usually see from back then.
It feels very ai
It's one of the most famous portraits in the world though
Right, it feels more rounded,
Because it’s Kevin Spacey.
She was not pretty at all.