Jane Seymour (c.1509 –1537) (after 1536 original)
after Hans Holbein the younger (Augsburg 1497/8 - London 1543)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1536 - 1569
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
635 x 508 mm (25 x 20 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Montacute House, Somerset
NT 597945
Summary
Oil painting on panel, Jane Seymour (c.1509 –1537), after Hans Holbein the younger (Augsburg 1497/8 - London 1543), mid 16th century after an original of 1536. A half-length portrait of Jane Seymour, daughter of Sir John Seymour and Margaret Wentworth, who married Henry VIII and was his third wife, 11 days after the execution of Anne Boleyn in 1536. She is turned slightly to the left, gazing to the left; her hands clasped at her waist. She wears an English hood and a deep red dress embroidered with gold thread, yellow slashed sleeves fastened with jewelled clasps. She also wears two necklaces with a jewelled pendant and a large jewelled pendant with three drop-pearls. and has rings on the forefinger and third finger of her left hand. It has been thought until recently that this is possibly a contemporary copy of the portrait in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. However, since the cleaning of the version in the Mauritshuis in The Hague in 2004, it was revealed that the latter portrait is closer to Holbein's preliminary drawing in the Royal Collection than the Vienna painted version and it was probably the portrait that Carel van Mander saw at Warmoesstraat in Amsterdam in 1604 and described as an original work.
Provenance
Bought and bequeathed by Sir Percy Malcolm Stewart (1871-1951) to the National Trust and transferred to Montacute House in 1960 after the death of Lady Stewart
Credit line
Montacute House, The Malcolm Stewart Bequest (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: Small filt tablet affixed to bottom of frame, inscribed
Makers and roles
after Hans Holbein the younger (Augsburg 1497/8 - London 1543), artist
References
Montacute House, Somerset, 1976 [The National Trust; Dudley Dodd] 1976, "THE CRIMSON BEDROOM Paintings Jane Seymour (d.1537), after Holbein (1497/8-1543). Third wife of Henry VIII and mother of Edward VI." Montacute House, Somerset, 1976 [The National Trust; Dudley Dodd] 1976, An Illustrated Souvenir, Shown hanging to the right of the bed in the Crimson Bedroom. Montacute House, Somerset, 1991 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 1991, p.67, illus p.68 in general view, to right of bed. "THE CRIMSON BEDROOM PAINTINGS Queen Jane (1509?-37) Jane Seymour, third Queen of Henry VIII; mother of Edward VI; 'of middle stature and no great beauty, so fair that one would call her pale than otherwise'. The original is in Vienna. After Hans Holbein (1497/8-1543)m c.1539-40." Montacute House, Somerset, 1997 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 1991, revised 1997 , p.67, illus p.68 in general view, to right of bed. "THE CRIMSON BEDROOM PAINTINGS Queen Jane (1509?-37) Jane Seymour, third Queen of Henry VIII; mother of Edward VI; 'of middle stature and no great beauty, so fair that one would call her pale than otherwise'. The original is in Vienna. After Hans Holbein (1497/8-1543)m c.1539-40." Montacute House, Somerset, 2004-2006 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 2000, revised 2004, reprinted 2005, 2006, p.51, illus p.56 in general view of Crimson Bedroom, to right of bed. "THE LIBRARY ANTE-ROOM PAINTINGS Queen Jane (1509?-37) Jane Seymour, third Queen of Henry VIII; mother of Edward VI; 'of middle stature and no great beauty, so fair that one would call her pale than otherwise'. The original is in Vienna. After Hans Holbein (1497/8-1543)m c.1539-40."