Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens
Note: This is a show notes page accompanying my on-location podcast at ‘The Six Wives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens’ exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery in summer 2024. Below is text adapted from The National Portrait Gallery’s overview of the current exhibition. We are grateful to The National Portrait Gallery for letting us use their imagery. Where images are our own, it is noted in the credit line.
An Introduction To Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens
Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens is the first major exhibition of historical portraiture to take place since the reopening of The National Portrait Gallery; its focus is on the women who married the infamous Tudor king. Expect to enjoy over 140 works which shed light on their fascinating stories.
Reuniting items that would have last been seen together when in possession of the queens themselves, Six Lives includes items that have never been on public display and a sixteenth-century portrait of Katherine Parr that was once thought to be lost. Exploring agency, influence and cultural impact both in life and the afterlife, the exhibition steps back through time – from contemporary portraits by Hiroshi Sugimoto and costumes from SIX the Musical to sixteenth-century portraits by Hans Holbein the Younger.
Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens (which runs between 20 June – 8 September 2024) examines the representation of Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr, both in their own time and in the centuries since they lived. The narrative focuses on these extraordinary women rather than their infamous husband. From historic paintings, miniatures, drawings and the queens’ personal possessions – including their own letters and books – to contemporary photography, costume and film, the exhibition will draw upon a wealth of factual and fictional material to place the spotlight on six women who helped to shape a fascinating period of English history.
Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard
Katherine of Aragon, Katherine Parr, Jane Seymour.
With many portraits and objects reunited for the first time in centuries, visitors to Six Lives can expect to learn more about the family networks that brought each queen to court, their relationships with the king, their patronage and interests, as well as the ways in which they used portraiture to communicate their politics, religious beliefs, values, identity and status.
Important loans from private collections include a recently conserved historic painted panel of Katherine Parr, attributed to ‘Master John’, and a portrait of Anne of Cleves by Edgar Degas. The three-quarter-length portrait of Katherine Parr was long believed to have been lost—destroyed by a fire in 1949—and will be publicly displayed for the first time since its conservation and sale at auction last year, while the portrait by Degas offers an unusual encounter with the sixteenth-century queen through the eyes of the renowned French Impressionist painter.
Other notable historic items displayed as part of Six Lives will include Katherine of Aragon’s writing box; Anne Boleyn’s inscribed book of hours, her signature deliberately erased; an illustrated bible commissioned by Thomas Cromwell after the death of Jane Seymour, publicly displayed for the first time; Anne of Cleves’ account book of her expenses as queen; a portrait miniature, thought to depict Katherine Howard by Hans Holbein the Younger; and a prayer book written by Katherine Parr, bearing an inscription from Henry VIII to her, displayed in London for the first time.
The stories of the queens have been constructed and revised many times, both in their lifetimes and throughout history – from their mottos and heraldic emblems to their presentation on stage, in film and books. Their stories have been a frequent source of fascination, repeatedly inspiring writers and artists of all kinds to attempt to uncover the ‘truth’ of their lives: their characters, their appearances and their relationships. Quoting from portraits made throughout the sixteenth century, few performances of the character of Anne Boleyn are undertaken without her distinctive pearl necklace with a ‘B’ pendant. Similarly, Holbein’s meticulous rendering of Anne of Cleves’ clothes provides ample information from which to present an instantly recognisable figure on stage or screen.
Images: The National Portrait Gallery.
Some of the first portraits encountered upon entering the exhibition are contemporary works by the renowned artist, Hiroshi Sugimoto, which are being shown in London for the first time. Taken in 1999, the black and white photographs capture six individual portraits – waxwork depictions of each queen – made by Madame Tussaud’s. So naturalistic that they appear to be taken from life, the photographs explore the tension between the real and the imagined.
Further examining this tension, depictions from cinema, theatre, opera and television will be brought together to explore how the queens have been interpreted in popular culture. The exhibition will include Katherine of Aragon’s character costume from the West End’s SIX the Musical; film clips and marketing material from the German film Anna Boleyn (1920); costume from stage performances at both the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal Opera House; and collaged designs created for the 1970 BBC television production, The Six Wives of Henry VIII.
The exhibition will also look at the staging of the queens’ lives in their own time – in particular, their alignment with the exemplary stories of the women of classical antiquity and the Bible, imagery that was ubiquitous and permeated every aspect of court life: chased in metal, painted on panels, woven into tapestries and illuminated in books. Playing cards referencing the biblical heroine Judith as The Queen of Hearts and paintings such as Joos van Cleve’s Lucretia (c. 1520-25) ensured each queen would never have forgotten that they were performing on the court stage.
The accompanying publication Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens, written by curator Dr. Charlotte Bolland, includes essays from award-winning historian and broadcaster Professor Suzannah Lipscomb; early modern historian Dr. Nicola Clark; art historian and curator at Historic Royal Palaces, Brett Dolman; curator at Historic Royal Palaces, Dr. Alden Gregory; material culture and music historian, Benjamin Hebbert; author and historian, Dr. Nicola Tallis; and historian, Dr Valerie Schutte. It is available to purchase here.
Note: There is unrestricted access to the first part of this podcast here. However, to listen to the full episode, you must be a member of The Ultimate Guide to Exploring Tudor England, The Tudor Travel Guide’s membership site. For more information on the membership, click here.
The Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens Image Gallery
Sarah and Charlotte. Image © The Tudor Travel Guide
Katherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour Anne Boleyn,
Katherine Howard, Katherine Parr, Anne of Cleves.
Images: The National Portrait Gallery.
Miniature in Miniature Box; Portrait of Anne of Cleves, 4th Queen of Henry VIII; watercolour on vellum; box-turned ivory; painted by Hans Holbein (1497 – 1543); possibly English or German; 1539.
Image: The National Portrait Gallery.
Christiani matrimonii institutio (The Institution of Christian Marriage) By Desiderius Erasmus, title page design by Hans Holbein the Younger. Book, line engraving printed on paper, 1526.
The presentation of this copy, which bears an inscription from Erasmus to Katherine, may
have served to introduce Holbein to the English court, as he most likely brought the book
with him when he first travelled from Basel to England in 1526. Images © The Tudor Travel Guide.
Royal arms of Jane Seymour, made in England, stained glass, about 1536; Royal Arms of Jane Seymour, made in England, carved oak, about 1536; Jane Seymour’s badge, made in England Reigate stone, about 1536; a diamond pendant contains the sacred Christian monogram ‘IHS’ and is similar to the one Jane is seen wearing in her portrait by Holbein.
Images © The Tudor Travel Guide.
The Great Bible was the first authorised translation of the Bible in English. Thomas Cromwell had his portrait inserted into this presentation copy and also added an image of a queen wearing cloth of silver and gold in the lower-right corner. Images © The Tudor Travel Guide.
Useful Links
Visiting information for the Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens at The National Portrait Gallery is here.
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