royal portraits

Pink or lilac robes today, Your Majesty….?

Jun 7, 2024

anniversaries, art, buildings

Anne of Bohemia, Barons Lumley, chester-le-street, Edward of Woodstock, Epiphany Rising, Henry IV, Joan of Kent, John Duke of Exeter, Leeds Castle, lilac, Lumley Castle, Margaret Holland, pink, Richard II, royal portraits, Sir Ralph Lumley, Thomas Earl of Kent, usurpation

Here’s a portrait of Richard II that isn’t seen very often, except perhaps head and shoulders—possibly because of the figure of Ralph, 1st Lord Lumley kneeling before him. Richard’s likeness seems to be a copy of his famous portrait in Westminster Abbey, but this one hangs in Leeds Castle. I think it rather striking not…
What if Henry Tudor had been a handsome, charismatic challenger….?

Jan 19, 2023

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, humour, law

“Princes”, Battle of Bosworth, beards, Henry VII, NPG, Richard III, royal portraits, squinting, Stanleys, treachery

As supporters of Richard III, we find it only too easy to dislike Henry VII. Not only did the churl defeat and kill Richard (not even through his own martial endeavours but through treachery!) but his looks mean we wouldn’t trust him an inch. He looks cold, calculating, shifty and downright untrustworthy, nor…
What did the Kingmaker look like….?

Nov 22, 2022

anniversaries, art, Science

“Tudor” propaganda, facial reconstruction, Henry VI, Look and Learn, Louis XI, Margaret of Anjou, Richard III, Richard of Warwick, royal portraits, Westminster Abbey

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, known to posterity as the Kingmaker, was a very prominent figure in the 15th century and featured in one of my very early books. He was born today, 22 November, in 1428. I’ve seen numerous depictions of him, but have just happened upon a drawing (see above) that I…
Might she have been Queen Elizabeth II….?

Jun 17, 2022

anniversaries, art, genealogy, religion

Bohemia, Charles I, coronations, crowns, Elizabeth Stuart, Frederick of Bohemia, Henry VII, Henry VIII, History Extra, James VI/I, royal portraits, Stuarts, velvet, Winter Queen

Well here’s something interesting. I confess that the Stuart period isn’t one of my strongpoints, and I know very little about Elizabeth Stuart, but the above portrait of her is very intriguing. Is she wearing the same crown that appears in the pictures beneath the main portrait? The crown in the little illustration on the…
A lookalike of Richard’s ring….

Mar 13, 2022

art

jewellery, National Portrait Gallery, Richard III, rings, royal portraits, Society of Antiquaries, The Broken Sword

Is the modern ring below, found at this site , meant to be one of the three rings in the NPG portrait? See above. If so, which one? To me, the left ring and the one in the centre look about the same…. The one on the right is totally unlike the “star” ring…
A living, breathing Richard III….?

Feb 8, 2022

archaeology, art, battles, Science

Battle of Bosworth, facial reconstruction, National Portrait Gallery, Richard III, royal portraits

There have been “animations” of Richard before, and mock-ups of what he actually looked like, but I have to admit that this one is the best so far. We’re so accustomed to the “reconstruction” made from the exact dimensions of his skull, but there is no life in it, if you know what I mean.…
Did Edward III, Richard II and Henry VII look like this….?

Nov 13, 2021

anniversaries, art, buildings, religion, Science

Arthur, Curtis Durane, Ebeneezer Scrooge, Edward III, facial reconstruction, Henry VII, John Travolta, Merlin, Richard II, royal portraits, Westminster Abbey

My internet travels take me here, there and everywhere…and today I came upon another site about facial reconstructions of past figures of consequence. There have been quite a few of these in recent years, and this one is an interesting addition. Well, addition for me, it may have been around for quite some time.…
The portrait at Hever Castle is more like Henry VI than Richard III….

Oct 10, 2021

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, law, religion, The play’s the thing

“Princes”, Anne Boleyn, Battle of Bosworth, character, Domenico Mancini, Henry VI, Henry VII, Hever Castle, Kent, Richard III, royal portraits, Sir William Boleyn, treachery

I’ve seen this (awful!) portrait of Richard before. It just doesn’t look like him, more one of the invented Tudor versions of him, i.e. monstrous and evil, or weak and terrified of all things Tudor. This one fits the ‘weak and terrified’ mould, and if it were listed as a portrait of Henry VI, I’d…
MISIDENTIFIED HISTORICAL PORTRAITS INCLUDING TUDOR QUEENS…

Oct 9, 2021

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, religion, sources

“Tudors”, Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, beards, Bere Regis, breeches, Catherine Howard, Charles Brandon, Cromwells, David Starkey, Elizabeth of York, executions, fashion, Hans Holbein, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Jane, Jane Seymour, John Morton, Katherine Parr, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Mary “Tudor”, Mary I, Master John, National Portrait Gallery, Nicolas Sanders, Queen’s Collection, queens, Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, Richard III, Richard of Warwick, Rous Roll, royal portraits, Sir John Cheke, St. Mary’s Fairford, St. Mary’s Warwick, Thomas Wolsey, Toledo Museum of Art, tomb effigies, Wars of the Roses

Reblogged from MISIDENTIFIED HISTORICAL PORTRAITS INCLUDING TUDOR QUEENS… Does anyone else like me get irritated by misidentified portraits of historical characters? Is it that difficult to get correct? It’s quite sloppy to be honest as just a quick glance at them tells you something ain’t quite right here! It’s particularly common around 16th century portraiture when…
Richard III and the Ancient Egyptian cheese….!

Aug 25, 2021

anniversaries, archaeology, art, buildings, religion, Science

Ancient Egypt, Anglo-Saxons, anthropology, Armenia, Azerbaijan, bamboo strips, barley, Battle of Bosworth, BBC, beer, Blombos cave, board games, Canada, cave art, cheese, China, Ciampate del Diavolo, Clotilda, Cote d’Ivoire, Erebus, gold, human hair, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, King Herod, Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars, mammoths, Mary Stuart, multiplication tables, Northwest Passage, nutcrackers, Pembrokeshire, Philippa Langley, quarry, Richard III, Roman villa, royal portraits, royal tombs, Russia, sculptures, shoes, Sir John Franklin, Sir John Maitland, skulls, slave ship, South Africa, Staffordshire Hoard, Stonehenge, storytelling, tomb of Ptahmes, USA, Wiltshire, X-rays

In this intriguing list of twenty , the discovery of Richard III’s remains comes in at number two! He was pipped at the post by an extremely old cheese from Egypt. Eh? Old cheese? Sorry, but can that possibly be more important than Richard? It doesn’t even have King Tut’s fingerprints or teethmarks! 😦 Oh…