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Antonis Mor and Workshop - Mary I, Queen of England, 1554

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This is a vertical oil on oak panel portrait of Queen Mary Tudor. She sits ramrod straight in a fringed, red and gold armchair, her back not resting on the back of her chair, nor her arms on the padded armrests. Her dark eyes look directly at the viewer under almost invisible eyebrows. She has a roundish nose and firmly closed peach lips. Her high, light-skinned forehead meets her center-parted auburn hair, which is gently waved over her ears and tucked behind her head under a back and white headpiece encircled by a band of alternating clusters of three pearls and gold ornaments. She wears a dark brown, full-sleeved over-garment to her lower torso that has a high, stand up collar revealing white lining decorated with gold flowers, and a high collared ruffled white undergarment at her neckline. On her lower arms and wrists we see an elaborate undergarment of alternating white and grey fabric and white ruffled cuffs. Where her overgarment opens at her lower torso, an expanse of grey, white and black fabric in a large pattern of overlapping vines covers her legs down to her shins, the point at which the portrait terminates.  In her right hand she holds a short, red and white Tudor rose, and in her left hand, dark gloves with tan, pearl and gold studded cuffs. Her left hand displays three rings, and heavy bracelets adorn each wrist.  A jeweled belt falls loosely around her waist, from which hangs a long cord for a round, gold and jeweled pomander to hold sweet smelling substances. To top off her jewels, a pearl, gold and jeweled necklace around her neck bears a massive pendant composed of a smaller above a larger ornate gold setting encasing very large gems from which a huge, perfectly symmetrical pear-shaped pearl dangles. All of this show of wealth is set against a dark charcoal background with “Marye the Queene” inscribed in light grey in the upper left hand corner. The painting has a gold frame comprising three increasingly recessed relatively simple gold strips.  

Antonis Mor and Workshop (Utrecht, Netherlands, 1512-1516 - about 1576, Antwerp, Beligum)

Mary Tudor, Queen of England, 1554

Oil on oak panel , 112 x 83 cm (44 1/8 x 32 11/16 in.)

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Commentary


Mary Tudor (1516–1558) was the only surviving child of England’s Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Mary became queen in 1553 and married Philip, heir to the kingdom of Spain (later Philip II). Although this portrait was painted as an engagement present for her future husband, Mary looks somber. Given that her marriage was meant to seal an alliance between England and Spain, perhaps it’s appropriate that this portrait emphasizes Mary’s power and status. Antonis Mor was the most successful portraitist of his day. Official portraits were frequently copied to be given away to other rulers and family members. The first version of this painting is now in Madrid.