Will the real Anne Boleyn please stand up
We all have our favorite Anne Boleyn portraits, right? I’m going to share with you my favorite one.The way she has always been described leads me to believe that most of the others made her too attractive.
“Not one of the handsomest women in the world” reported the Venetian diplomat, Francesco Sanuto, who praised her dark eyes but criticized her flat chest and “swarthy complexion.” – via The Anne Boleyn Myth-Buster: #1, Anne’s Looks
Nicholas Sanders (circa 1530–1581), an English Catholic Priest, for obvious reasons described Anne this way:
Anne Boleyn was rather tall of stature, with black hair and an oval face of sallow complexion, as if troubled with jaundice. She had a projecting tooth under the upper lip, and on her right hand, six fingers. There was a large wen under her chin, and therefore to hide its ugliness, she wore a high dress covering her throat. In this she was followed by the ladies of court, who also wore high dresses, having before been in the habit of leaving their necks and upper portion of their persons uncovered. She was handsome to look at, with a pretty mouth.
This sketch by Hans Holbein the Younger, of Anne, looks like what he describes, except for the blonde hair:
This is MY favorite portrait of Anne – the girl next door…classic beauty, in my opinion.
Anne Boleyn History anne boleyn hans holbein the younger hever portrait
It’s so odd to think that she probably had red hair, we’ve all have this ingrained idea that she had dark hair but the truth is she was probably a redhead.
“They” talk so much in the history books about her having dark hair and dark eyes and that she was the opposite of what was seen as beautiful back then (light hair and light eyes). Why do you believe she had red hair? I’m curious.
You can read about it here http://under-these-restless-skies.blogspot.com/2013/08/anne-boleyn-redhead.html It’s easier they have sketches early paintings, and the hair color in Elizabeth I ring locket of Anne is red so Elizabeth believed her mother had red hair.
Lots of people are painting with dark hair yet we know their hair was another color this happened to Mary Tudor Queen of France.
It is Catherine of Aragon, not Anne Boleyn, that people think had dark hair because of her Spanish ancestry but who in reality was a redhead.
No, I already know about Catherine (That’s obvious) new evidence about Anne Boleyn herself shows she probably had dark red hair rather then dark hair in general. Holbein Sketch and the earliest paintings of Anne have her with red hair.
Tudor period is my period in history and Anne is my favourite Queen. I think she was the better looking of all 6 wives and the above portrait is, I like to believe, a good likeness.