Artwork Title: Portrait of an Italian lady incorrectly described as Anne Boleyn

Portrait of an Italian lady incorrectly described as Anne Boleyn

Frans Pourbus The Younger

The "Anne Boleyn" portrait Among his works is a portrait of an Italian lady in the Pinacoteca Malaspina, Pavia that has been incorrectly identified as Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII of England. This identification is a result of a later inscription. The portrait was in any case painted some years after Anne Boleyn's death in 1536. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frans_Pourbus_the_Younger) A possibly related story, but which appears to be about a different painting by Pourbus: Isabella Clara Eugenia was raised at a court that doted on dwarfs, and her father Philip lavished attention and care on his favorites. The Infanta posed for several magnificent portraits with female dwarfs. After she married her cousin Albert, Archduke of Austria, Isabella Clara governed the Netherlands with him, but the couple never produced a child. In 1603 she sent a portrait to King James and Queen Anna, painted by Frans Pourbus, of herself with a child dwarf, but the diplomatic gift was a disaster. According to the Venetian ambassador, the image shocked and discomfited Anna, who read it as a pathetic mimicry of motherhood…. The painting became part of the royal collection but was never displayed. In the later 17th century the identities of the sitters were forgotten, and the portrait was actually misidentified as Anne Boleyn with the young Elizabeth -- a fascinating error that seems moved by the desire to overcome a taboo. (From Historical Affects and the Early Modern Theater , edited by Ronda Arab, Michelle Dowd, Adam Zucker, found on Google Books).
Uploaded on Jun 23, 2017 by Suzan Hamer

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