You can read my guest article about Lady Jane’s appearance at On The Tudor Trail.
This is the fourth in my series ‘Another look at…’, which have investigated what the discovery of two letters by Dr Stephan Edwards have added to our knowledge of Lady Jane Grey.
You can read the other articles here:
Another look at…the wedding of Lady Jane
Another look at…10th July 1553
Another look at…19th July 1553
(c) NPG 6804; Lady Jane Dudley (nee Grey) by Unknown artist
The portrait was discovered at a house in Streatham in January 2006. It was announced in the November of that year, that it had been purchased by the National Portrait Gallery.
The portrait was first on display at the Gallery in Room 3 of the Tudor Galleries from spring 2007 to April 2009 and then at the entrance to the ‘Lady Jane Grey’ display from December 2009 until 15th August 2010. Between March 2013 and May 2014 it was on display at Montacute House in Somerset.
It was back in Room 3 at the National Portrait Gallery as part of ‘The Real Tudors: Kings & Queens Rediscovered’ exhibition from 12 September 2014 until 1st March 2015.
On March 23rd, the National Portrait Gallery posted a photo of the portrait being reframed as part of Museum Week.
Down in the Framing Studio, the team is reframing a portrait of Lady Jane Grey #secretsMW #MuseumWeek pic.twitter.com/7ew9VjLesQ
— Portrait Gallery (@NPGLondon) March 23, 2015
The portrait returned to Room 2 of Montacute House in the late spring of 2015.
The painting was the subject of a gallery talk by Justin Nolan on June 12th 2007.
These were the main points from this talk:
‘The NPG has been aware of this painting since 1923. It is a ¾ length portrait of a woman wearing high status clothing from the 1550s.
The sitter is someone of importance. Analysis (including ‘dendrochronology’) has shown that the wood used dates from after 1593. The question is why would someone paint a portrait of a woman after 1593 wearing clothing from forty years before? There must have been something about the sitter to make it worthwhile.
The inscription dates from the same time as the portrait and cross referencing it with the known ‘Lady Jayne’s’ at the time, shows that it could refer to Jane Grey.
Jane was in the public consciousness in 1602. This is shown by Thomas Dekker’s play, ‘Sir Thomas Wyatt’. Some of this play survives and in it, Jane and Guildford are portrayed as lovers. So from very early on, the romantic notion of Lady Jane Grey existed.
It is possible that this painting belonged in the collection of a gentleman who wanted to promote his enthusiasm for Protestantism and could have been part of a series of paintings of ‘Protestant Worthies.’
This was probably not intended to be an accurate portrait of Jane but was using her as a badge of the Elizabethan Protestant Order.’
There isn’t anything in this portrait that supports an accurate representation, however, the question remains, why else produce this painting’ (Justin Nolan, NPG)
The painting was displayed between 2007 and 2009 as:
‘Memorial Portrait of Lady Jane Grey (Lady Jayne)
Unknown
16th century’ (NPG)
The postcard on sale at the time had the following information:
‘Lady Jane Dudley (nee Grey) 1537-54
After a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger.’ (NPG)
It was displayed between December 2009 and August 2010 as:
‘Unknown, 1590s
‘This panel is one of the earliest surviving portraits of England’s shortest reigning monarch Lady Jane Grey. It was not painted from life or indeed made during her lifetime. It is a commemorative portrait made at least 40 years after her death.’ (NPG)
It was displayed between March 2013 and May 2014 as:
Room 2 – The Court of Henry VIII, Montacute House
‘Lady Jane Grey
By an unknown artist
Oil on oak panel 1590s’
‘This is one of the earliest surviving portraits of England’s shortest-reigning monarch, Lady Jane Grey, despite being made some 40 years after her death. The sixteen-year-old Jane Dudley (née Grey) was nominated by her cousin, Edward VI, to succeed him and at his death was uncrowned Queen of England for nine days before being deposed and executed by Mary I.
A commemorative portrait, this panel may have formed part of a set of Protestant martyrs. Scratched lines across the eyes and mouth suggest that the painting may have been subjected to an iconoclastic attack at some point in its history.’ (Montacute House)
At ‘The Real Tudors: Kings & Queens Rediscovered’ exhibition from 12 September 2014 to 1st March 2015 it was displayed as:
‘Lady Jane Grey
By an unknown artist
Oil on panel, late sixteenth century’ (NPG)
‘Lady Jane Grey was named as heir to the throne by her cousin Edward VI: however, she was imprisoned after only nine days’ rule when Mary successfully asserted her right to the crown. Highly educated and devoutly Protestant, it was only during Elizabeth’s reign that she became more widely known. This fuelled an interest in her portraiture and portraits such as this example were created to mark her place for an Elizabethan audience. However, no lifetime portraits of Jane appear to survive and it is possible that none were ever painted. By 1620, one image had gained credence as a lifetime portrait and was used as the basis for an engraving. However, the sitter in this image wears a jewel that is very similar to one that belonged to Katherine Parr, and may be Henry VIII’s sixth queen.’ (NPG)
In the catalogue to accompany the exhibition, it is stated that:
‘Even during the uncertain time between Edward’s death and Mary’s accession, Jane made little mark on contemporary commentators, and given the short period of her reign it is not likely that a portrait was ever produced.
…Numerous portraits have been identified as Jane, but no certain image during her lifetime appears to have survived, if one ever existed. One portrait thought to depict Jane was painted in the Elizabethan period and was probably produced in response to her growing reputation as a Protestant martyr. In this three-quarter-length image, she stands holding a book, wearing a costly, if simply painted, gown of red velvet and cloth-of-gold and silver. Tree-ring dating suggests that the portrait was painted in the 1590s, and thus it may derive from an earlier likeness, or could even have been adapted from a portrait of another sitter. Whatever the case, it is clear that the portrait served as a likeness of Jane for its Elizabethan audience. The fragmentary inscription, which identifies the sitter as ‘Lady Jayne’, suggests that it may have formed part of a set of portraits, and the scratched lines across the eyes and mouth may be result of a deliberate attack at some point in history.’ (1)
In May 2014, Dr Stephan Edwards published his latest findings on the portrait, at his website, Some Grey Matter. He wrote:
‘On the whole, it seems entirely likely that the Streatham Portrait was based upon some earlier reference image that depicted Katherine Parr but, like the Norris Portrait, was adapted to “become” Jane Grey in the absence of an accessible authentic portrait of Jane.’ (2)
In 2015, the portrait was included in his book ‘A Queen of a New Invention: Portraits of Lady Jane Grey Dudley, England’s ‘Nine Days Queen.’
It was displayed from late spring 2015 in Room 2 at Montacute House as:
‘Lady Jane Grey 1537 – 1554
Oil on oak panel,
c.1590 – 1600’
‘Purchased with help from the proceeds of the 150th anniversary gala.’ (Montacute House)
Sources
1.Bolland, C. and Cooper, T. (2014) The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered, National Portrait Gallery Publications, p.99
2.Edwards,S. Some Grey Matter – The Streatham Portrait Date accessed: 5 October 2014
2 October – Joan of Arc by Helen Castor
‘Acclaimed historian Helen Castor brings us afresh a gripping life of Joan of Arc. Instead of the icon, she gives us a living, breathing young woman; a roaring girl fighting the English, and taking sides in a bloody civil war that was tearing fifteenth century France apart.
Here is a portrait of a 19-year-old peasant who hears voices from God; a teenager transformed into a warrior leading an army to victory, in an age that believed women should not fight. And it is also the story behind the myth we all know, a myth which began to take hold at her trial: that of the Maid of Orleans, the saviour of France, a young woman burned at the stake as a heretic, a woman who five hundred years later would be declared a saint.
Joan and her world are brought vividly to life in this refreshing new take on the medieval world. Helen Castor brings us to the heart of the action, to a woman and a country in turmoil, a world where no-one – not Joan herself, nor the people around her, princes, bishops, soldiers or peasants – knew what would happen next.’
Further details – Amazon.co.uk
2 October – Witches: James I and the English Witch Hunts (Paperback) by Tracy Borman
‘September 1613.
In Belvoir Castle, the heir of one of England’s great noble families falls suddenly and dangerously ill. His body is ‘tormented’ with violent convulsions. Within a few short weeks he will suffer an excruciating death. Soon the whole family will be stricken with the same terrifying symptoms. The second son, the last male of the line, will not survive.
It is said witches are to blame. And so the Earl of Rutland’s sons will not be the last to die.
Witches traces the dramatic events which unfolded at one of England’s oldest and most spectacular castles four hundred years ago. The case is among those which constitute the European witch craze of the 15th-18th centuries, when suspected witches were burned, hanged, or tortured by the thousand. Like those other cases, it is a tale of superstition, the darkest limits of the human imagination and, ultimately, injustice – a reminder of how paranoia and hysteria can create an environment in which nonconformism spells death. But as Tracy Borman reveals here, it is not quite typical. The most powerful and Machiavellian figure of the Jacobean court had a vested interest in events at Belvoir.He would mastermind a conspiracy that has remained hidden for centuries.’
1 October 2014
‘The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered’ by Charlotte Bolland and Tarnya Cooper added to the General Works section of the bibliography.
Entries added to the following:
Paintings – Streatham and Master John, Engravings – Van de Passe, Primary Accounts – Spinola and Writings of Lady Jane Grey – Farewell Statement.
