Portraits of a Queen: Katherine of Aragon
Katherine of Aragon: 1st Wife of Henry VIII
Katherine of Aragon was named after her great-grandmother, Katherine of Lancaster – daughter of John of Gaunt and his second wife, Infanta Constance of Castile.
Henry VII also descended from John of Gaunt by his third wife, Katherine Swynford. John of Gaunt was son of King Edward III. Technically speaking, Katherine of Aragon had a stronger claim to the throne of England than her father in law, Henry VII
In 1509, Henry VIII married Katherine of Aragon, his brother Arthur’s widow. Less than two weeks later they were anointed and crowned together at Westminster Abbey.
Henry and Katherine had one surviving child…a daughter, Mary. Mary would go on to become Queen Mary I of England.
Here are some portraits we were able to find of Katherine of Aragon and we’ve tried our best to give appropriate credit on them.
NPG 4682
History Katherine of Aragon Queens Henry VIII Katherine of Aragon Portraits
She was beautiful inside and out.
The two naturalistic paintings (by Michael Sittow) are the most lovely, and you can imagine as a modern person that she really did look like that. The rest are later and wow, what a difference in style, I cannot really understand the lack of skill in them, overall, and the incapacity to capture her look. I know that post mortem portraits were often made to reflect the general mood, so as to color history, so perhaps they were made to show her in an unflattering way. And the second to last, again, lack of skill? If one were copying a Hans Holbein the younger, of anyone, they failed!~ The two Sittow paintings are reminiscent of Holbein, in the naturalism and careful attention to realistic proportions and light.
I agree 100%. That painting said to be similar to Holbein was not remotely like the delicate work of Holbein, and Sittow is definitely talented in the realistic style of Holbein.
The next to the last portrait, although it is posted as Katherine of Aragon does not appear to be her. She had a prominent chin. This woman has a receding chin. Hmmmm
I believe the next to last portrait (By John Goldar, after Hans Holbein the Younger; NPG D24174) is not Katherine of Aragon.
I agree with you. The chin is all wrong.
Good post. Very interesting to see all these portraits together. I’d never heard of Michel Sittow before but clearly he was a terrific artist.