Room 1 - Images of Anna of Denmark: 1574-1603
Anna of Denmark was born on 12
December 1574 in the palace of Skanderborg,
Denmark (d. 1619). She was the second daughter of Frederick II of
Denmark-Norway (1534-1588) and his wife, Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow
(1557-1631). Anna and her sister, Elizabeth (1573-1625), were initially brought
up at the court of their maternal grandparents in Güstrow, before returning to
the Danish court. Anna enjoyed a close relationship with her parents and
siblings and a stable, comfortable childhood.
Güstrow Palace, in
the duchy of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (now Germany), where Anna spent her earliest
years at the court of her maternal grandparents before returning to Denmark.
Image from Wikimedia Commons.
Anna’s future husband, James VI
of Scotland and I of England and Ireland, was born on 19 June 1566 (d. 1625) in
Edinburgh, Scotland, the only child of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587). James
succeeded to the Scottish throne when he was only one year old, as his mother
was forced to abdicate and fled to England, where she was kept in captivity for
nineteen years before finally being executed on 8 February 1587 at Fotheringhay
Castle, Northamptonshire. By contrast to Anna, James did not have close family
members around him as he grew up. His father, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1545-1567),
was murdered when he was a baby and James never saw his mother beyond his first
year.
In the late 1580s, when he was in
his early twenties, James began to look for potential brides. One possibility
was Anna’s older sister, Elizabeth. During negotiations, portraits of Elizabeth
and her parents were sent to Scotland. [1] Elizabeth, however, was betrothed
to Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1564-1613), and James turned his
attention to the next eldest Danish princess, Anna. Sir James Melville (1535-1617) reports in his memoir that
while James was considering marriages with either Anna or Catherine of Bourbon,
Princess of Navarre, Scottish ambassadors came back from Denmark and Navarre, “with
the pictures of the young princesses.” [2]
On 20 August 1589, James and Anna
were married by proxy at Kronborg Castle, Denmark, with George Keith, 5th
Earl Marischal (c. 1553-1623), representing James. Anna was fourteen years old
at the time. Anna set sail for Scotland, but rough weather forced her fleet to
land in Norway. James resolved to go to Norway himself, reaching Oslo on 19
November. James and Anna were married in person in Oslo on 23 November 1589.
The newlyweds then went to Denmark, where they spent time with Anna’s family,
including her younger brother Christian (1577-1648), who had succeeded to the
Danish-Norwegian throne as Christian IV on 29 August 1596. They also attended
her sister Elizabeth’s wedding. The suite of rooms James and Anna used while
staying at Kronborg is today named the Scottish Suite. James and Anna then
travelled to Scotland, arriving on 1 May 1590.
The inner
courtyard of Kronborg Castle, Denmark, where Anna and James’s proxy marriage
took place on 20 August 1589 and where the couple stayed after their marriage
in person in Oslo. Photograph by Sara Ayres.
The Scottish
Suite, where Anna and James stayed during their visit to Kronborg Castle.
Photograph by Sara Ayres.
Anna was feted with a state entry
into Edinburgh and duly crowned in Holyrood Abbey. Anna’s dowry included
Linlithgow Palace and Dunfermline Palace. On 19 February 1594 Anna gave birth
to her first child, Prince Henry (1594-1612), a cause of great celebration.
During her time in Scotland, the following children were born: Elizabeth
(1596-1662), Margaret (1598-1600), Charles (1600-1649) and Robert (1602).
It is worth noting that, while Anna
has traditionally been called “Anne” by historians, she herself spelled her
name “Anna”. Anna will be used throughout to refer to the queen, whereas Anne
will be retained for the titles of those portraits using this formulation.
[1] The Warrender Papers 2
edited by Annie I. Cameron, Publications of the Scottish History Society,
Third Series, Vol. 19 (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 1932): 38.
[2] Sir James Melville, Memoirs of His Own Life (Edinburgh:
Bannatyne Club, 1827): 365.
..........
The Historiography of Anna of
Denmark’s early portraiture:
Anna of Denmark’s biography is often read through a
cultural lens, and her patronage within the context of her biography, with
recent important works including: Jemma Field, Anna of Denmark: The Material
and Visual Culture of the Stuart Courts, 1589–1619 (Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 2020); Susan Dunn-Hensley, Anna of Denmark and Henrietta
Maria: Virgins, Witches and Catholic Queens (Basingstoke, Hampshire:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2017); and Leeds Barroll, Anna of Denmark, Queen of
England: A Cultural Biography (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 2001).
The majority of scholarly attention has focused on Anna’s life in England from 1603 until her death in 1619. Anna’s Danish and Scottish portraiture might constitute the “dark ages” of her sitter iconography, given the seeming lack of sources available. This lack should not, however, be confused with a dearth of or otherwise underdeveloped court culture at the Oldenburg or Stuart courts, as much recent published work confirms. Moreover, the Scottish and later English courts participated in a lively cultural exchange via Anna’s close relationships with her siblings. For example, in a letter of 1605 (shown below), Anna sends Christian a miniature, entreating him to favour her by wearing it. To translate, Anna writes that she is "sending you herewith our portrait with the friendly and sisterly request that Your Highness please us by wearing the same and thinking about us thereby as a brother, whose image we ourselves will wear not only on our clothes, but also much more in tender sisterly remembrance." The original German reads: "... und ubersenden Ihr hirbeineben unser Conterfaitt, mitt freundt und Schwesterlicher bitte E. L. dasselben unß zugefallen tragen, und unser derbey Brüderlich gedencken wöllen Wir wir hinwiederumb deroselben Conterfaitt nicht allein an unser Kleidern, sondern vielmehr in sartiger gedachtnuß Schwesterlich tragen." Any errors in transcription or translation should be attributed to us.
Letter from Anna
of Denmark to Christian IV, King of Denmark, 1605, Rigsarkivet, Tyske Kancelli,
Udenrigske Afdeling, England (link here).
Anna is often portrayed wearing a
portrait miniature, an act reverberating with portraiture’s performative
potential. (We will discuss Anna's miniatures in more detail in a future post) Nor did such correspondence only deliver portraits, as this postscript in a
letter from Anna to Christian IV thanking him for a Pictur demonstrates
- the use of the word pictur suggests this was not a portrait, which was most
often referred to as a counterfeit.
Letter from Anna
of Denmark to Christian IV, King of Denmark, 8 August 1603, Rigsarkivet, Tyske
Kancelli, Udenrigske Afdeling, England (link here).
Unfortunately, Anna gives no
further details as to this picture’s content, medium or its significance for
herself and her brother, leaving us to speculate how this image might have
inspired or influenced not only its recipient, but also the patronage and
production networks to which she belonged at the English courts.
Margit Thøfner’s, “On Magic, Time and Exchange: The Arts
of Sophia of Mecklenburg‐Güstrow and Anna of Denmark‐Norway,” published
recently in a special issue on Denmark, of Art History 43:2 (2020):
384-411, makes interesting connections between the visual cultures of Anna's
natal courts and representation at her marital courts. On the cultures Anna
cultivated during the Scottish reign, see Michael Pearce, “Anna of Denmark:
Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland,” 138–51, and Jemma Field, “Dressing a
Queen: The Wardrobe of Anna of Denmark at the Scottish Court of King James VI,
1590–1603,” 152–67, both in “The Northern Line: Representing Danish Consorts in
Scotland, England and Great Britain,” special issue, The Court Historian:
The International Journal of Court Studies 24:2 (August 2019).
Other important work on the cultures of the Oldenburg
courts includes Kristoffer Neville’s article in the recent special issue on
Denmark, “In Search of Christian IV’s Royal Frederiksborg,” Art History
43:2 (2020): 360-383; the edited collection Reframing the Danish
Renaissance: Problems and Prospects in a European Perspective. Papers from an International
Conference in Copenhagen, 28 September-1 October 2006, edited by Michael
Andersen, Birgitte Bøggild Johannsen and Hugo Johannsen (København:
Nationalmuseet, 2011); and the exhibition catalogue for the multi-site show Christian
IV and Europe, the 19th Art Exhibition of the Council of Europe,
edited by Steffen Heiberg (Copenhagen: Kristensen, 1988).
We believe the period of Anna’s youth and her time in
Scotland offers a rich opportunity to undertake further work on Anna’s sitter
iconography and the crafting of imagery at her court in many different media—see,
for example, Clare McManus’s Anna of Denmark and Female Masquing in the
Stuart Court (1590-1619) (Manchester; New York: Manchester University
Press, 2002). We also hear that Mara Wade is currently working on Anna and her
sisters’ early life, education and the networks of their adulthood, and await
the publication of her research with great interest.
Lucy Wood’s MA thesis, The Portraits of Anne of
Denmark (unpublished MA dissertation, Courtauld Institute, 1981), was for a
long time the definitive source on Anna’s sitter iconography in its entirety,
prior to the publication of Catharine MacLeod’s important chapter, “Facing
Europe: The Portraiture of Anne of Denmark (1579–1619),” in Telling Objects:
Contextualizing the Role of the Consort in Early Modern Europe, edited by
Jill Bepler and Svante Norrhem (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2018): 67–86. Senior
Curator of Seventeenth Century Portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery,
MacLeod’s work has raised the possible existence of a lost full-length
portrait of Anna, made during the Scottish reign, which might have formed the
pattern for this engraving (discussed below).
This portrait’s appearance might also be indicated in the 1591 Seton Armorial,
an intriguing prospect newly raised below.
..........
A Catalogue of
Images of Anna of Denmark, Series A: Denmark and Scotland (c. 1580-1603)
A1: Hans Knieper, Portrait
of an unknown child, once thought to have been Anna of Denmark (still
labelled as such on its frame), (c.1580?), oil on canvas, 112 x 84 cm,
Frederiksborg Castle—Museum of National History (Denmark), inv. no. A 6182.
Copyright of this image belongs to the author.
On the Frederiksborg Castle website, the subject of this painting is identified as Sophie of Brandenburg, Electress of Saxony (1568-1622). This identification was presumably made on the basis of the portrait’s similarity to one by Andreas Riehl the Younger (c. 1551-1613), a painter to the Brandenburg court, now in the collection of the Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden, said to show Sophie as a young woman in her early twenties.
Andreas Riehl the Younger, Sophie of Brandenburg, Electress of Saxony (c. 1589-1591), oil on canvas, 74.7 x 53.6 cm, Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden, inv. no. H 0025. Copyright of this image belongs to the Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden (link here).
Sophie was the mother-in-law of
Anna’s sister, Hedwig of Denmark (1581-1641), who married Christian II, Elector
of Saxony (1583-1611), in 1602. Sophie was also the aunt of Christian IV’s first
wife, Anne Catherine of Brandenburg (1575-1612). The Frederiksborg painting is currently
attributed to Hans Knieper (d. 1587) and is dated to c. 1580, possibly on the
basis of the assumption that it is a copy of Riehl’s portrait.
Without knowing more about the
painting’s provenance it is surely wrong to wonder if it might not be a
betrothal portrait of Anne Catherine of Brandenburg. In any case, it is highly
representative of the kind of portraiture produced of young, elite women within
the marriage landscape of northern Germany and Scandinavia at this time, and
offers a glimpse as to what the portrait sent to James in advance of his
betrothal to Anna may have looked like. As Catherine MacLeod has pointed out,
this style of headdress is again repeated in an early Scottish portrait
engraving of Anna by Lambert Cornelisz (A3), which itself may also have been
based on a betrothal portrait of Anna.
References to this portrait:
Frederiksborg Castle website: https://dnm.dk/kunstvaerk/a-6182/
..........
A2: Unknown artist James VI and Anna
of Denmark as represented in the Seton Armorial (1591), gouache on paper, 25 x
16.5cm, property of Sir Francis Ogilvy and cared for by the National
Library of Scotland, inv. no. Acc. 9309, f. 23r. This photograph is reproduced from The Memoirs of Sir James Melville of
Halhill, edited by Gordon Donaldson (London: The Folio Society, 1969),
opposite page 160.
One of the earliest surviving images of Anna made during
her time in Scotland is featured in the Seton Armorial (dated 1591), made for
Robert, 6th Lord Seton. The Seton Armorial is now the property of Sir
Francis Ogilvy and is cared for by the National Library of Scotland. James VI
and Anna are represented on folio 23r. They are shown standing below a purple canopy of
state, unlike the other royals depicted in the armorial who stand in front of
plain backgrounds. Between James and Anna, placed in front of the canopy, are
the marshalled arms of Scotland and Denmark, with a closed imperial crown
placed on top of the coat-of-arms.
The likeness of James VI in the Seton Armorial is similar
to other portraits of James dating from the late 1580s, such as: National Trust
for Scotland (Falkland Palace), 52.707 (link here); English Heritage (Audley End),
81031044 (link here); and Royal Collection,
RCIN 401226 (link here). James is shown wearing a similar
black hat decorated with jewels and a feather in these portraits (and others
dating from the 1580s) as he does in the Seton Armorial, and the latter two
portraits also show him wearing a black cape as he does in the Seton Armorial.
These portraits all have similar features which would remain key components of
James’s iconography until it was radically changed in 1595. The pre-1595
features are: a small, round black hat decorated with jewels and a feather;
light brown hair with an upturned flick at the centre of the forehead; a
clean-shaven, youthful face; and a large ruff. Therefore, the Seton Armorial must
follow a pre-1595 portrait pattern of James VI. The Seton Armorial shows a
full-length image of James, and there are no known full-length portraits of
James surviving from the 1580s. It is possible, however, that surviving
portraits of James from the 1580s have been cut down—RCIN 401226, for example,
is an awkward shape in its current form and may originally have been larger.
To what extent might the likeness of Anna in the Seton
Armorial also follow a pre-existing portrait pattern? Anna is shown wearing a
typically Scandinavian-Germanic sixteenth century headdress, possibly decorated
with jewels or pearls, and arched at the centre of the forehead to form a peak.
Similar headdresses are worn by the sitter shown above as A1, and by Anna’s
younger sister, Augusta of Denmark (1580-1639) (link here).
This might suggest that the Seton Armorial image is based
on a pattern dating from Anna’s time in Denmark—perhaps a portrait sent to
Scotland during her marriage negotiations. However, Jemma Field and Michael
Pearce have found evidence in surviving financial accounts that when Anna lived
in Scotland she dressed her Danish attendants in recognisably Danish fashions
and colours, and that Anna herself continued to dress in Danish-style clothing.
[1] Using a portrait pattern that showed Anna in Danish-style clothing while
she was living in Scotland would have been less unusual if she were continuing
to dress that way. Therefore, it is also possible that the Seton Armorial may
have drawn on a more recent likeness of Anna made during her time in Scotland.
Further similarities between the Seton Armorial image of
Anna and full-length Scottish portrait engravings are observable; for example, the
wide ruff and the hanging sleeves open from the shoulder to the wrist,
revealing an additional full sleeve beneath. However, there are also numerous
differences between these images: most significantly the hair and headdress,
but also the cut and decoration of the skirt.
[1] Jemma Field, “Dressing a Queen: The Wardrobe of Anna
of Denmark at the Scottish Court of King James VI, 1590-1603,” The Court
Historian 24:2 (2019): 152-167; and Michael Pearce, “Anna of Denmark:
Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland,” The Court Historian 24:2 (2019):
138-151.
References
relating to the Seton Armorial:
Duncan
Thomson, Painting in Scotland 1570-1650 (Edinburgh: National Galleries
of Scotland, 1975): 33.
Duncan
Macmillan, Scottish Art 1460-1990 (Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing,
1990): 42.
..........
Lambert Cornelisz, James VI of Scotland (c.1595), line
engraving on paper, 9.4 x 7.6 cm, British Museum, inv. no. O,7.249. Copyright
of this image belongs to the British Museum. The image is taken from their
website.
A3: Lambert Cornelisz, Anne of Denmark (c.1595), line
engraving on paper, 10.2 cm x 7.7 cm, National Portrait Gallery, inv. no. NPG
D25724. Copyright of this image belongs to the National Portrait Gallery. This
image is taken from their website, linked below.
This engraving of Anna of Denmark bears some resemblance
to the Seton Armorial image shown above; most notably, the arched headdress
edged with lace points. As shown below, a new portrait pattern in oils was
created for Anna in 1595 (A4 and A5) that was reproduced in various engravings.
The dating of this engraving to 1595 suggests that an earlier portrait pattern
of Anna, possibly dating to her time in Denmark, continued to be used during
her first five years in Scotland before a new portrait pattern was created in
1595.
Anna’s headdress is decorated with what is possibly meant
to be a large feather secured with a jewel. Anna is wearing a pendant jewel on
a ribbon around her neck. Her dress has an opening at the front expanding from
the neck fastening. There are two rolled bands at the top of her sleeves (very
similar to the style worn by her sister, Augusta of Denmark, in a portrait now
in Nuremburg: link here). It is possible that Lambert’s
engraving may draw on an earlier Danish betrothal portrait, given, as Catherine
MacLeod has pointed out, the similarities between this engraving and the
portrait of Anna’s younger sister Augusta. MacLeod has also suggested that the
surviving portrait of Augusta may have been a companion piece to an original,
similar portrait of Anna, perhaps even part of a portrait set of the siblings. For
an example of an extant and complete family portrait series, see the matching
portraits attributed to Jacob van der Doort of the three daughters and two sons
of Anna’s elder sister, Elizabeth (1573-1625) and her husband, Heinrich Julius,
Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1564-1613), in the Royal Collection: inv. nos. RCIN
402627 (link here), RCIN 404914 (link here), RCIN 404963 (link here), RCIN 406783 (link here), RCIN 407222 (link here).
For A3, a
companion portrait engraving of James VI has been identified, that differs significantly
from his 1580s portrait patterns, since he is shown with a closely cropped head
and jaunty moustache (link here).
Lambert
Cornelisz (fl. 1593-1621) was a Dutch engraver based in Amsterdam: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG23665
References
to this engraving:
National
Portrait Gallery: https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw128177/Anne-of-Denmark
..........
Formerly attributed to Adrian Vanson, James VI of Scotland (1595), oil on
panel, diameter 119 mm, National Galleries of Scotland, inv. no. 1109.
Copyright of this image belongs to the National Galleries of Scotland. The
image is taken from their website.
A4: Formerly attributed to Adrian
Vanson, Anne of
Denmark (1595), oil on panel, diameter 114 mm, National Galleries of Scotland,
inv. no. PG 1110. Copyright of this image belongs to the National Galleries of
Scotland. The image is taken from their website, linked below.
In 1595, new portrait patterns were created for James and
Anna, which were used both for painted portraits and engravings. There were
likely a few reasons for this update. James and Anna’s first child, Prince
Henry, had been born on 19 February 1594, and both their marriage and the birth
of a male heir are referenced in the 1595 paintings of James through his
jewelled hatband, which is decorated with A and H shape jewels (though the H
jewels are not visible in this roundel version). James also possibly wanted to
project a more mature image of himself than in his previous portraits, as from
1595 he became particularly concerned about his candidacy for the English
succession. It was in that year that the Jesuit priest, Robert Persons,
published A Conference about the Next Succession to the Crowne of Ingland
(1595), challenging James’s claim to the English throne. James’s supporters
wrote several succession treatises in response, and James may have wished to
circulate images of himself that presented him as a suitable future King of
England, and Anna as a suitable queen consort.
In A4, Anna is shown wearing her hair in a wide style,
and a headdress decorated with rubies and pearls. She is richly attired with a
dangling pearl earring and a pearl necklace tied into a knot at the throat, falling
to her waist. She wears a wide ruff open at the front, the edges of which are
decorated with lace. Her white dress is decorated with patterned gold bands.
This charming roundel accompanies a companion roundel of James
VI (National Galleries of Scotland, PG 1109: link here). Duncan Thomson states that although small, “these two portraits are
not treated in a miniature-like technique, but are surprisingly free and
spontaneous in their handling.” According to Thomson, “The picture areas and
frames are turned from single pieces of wood. The frames are not identical in
section but turned in such a way that one fixes closely into the other. It is
thus possible that they were formerly hinged and so capable of being closed to
form a box.” [1]
Wood writes of this roundel
portrait of Anna and the oil on canvas portrait listed below as A5: “The
pendant busts of 1595, pretty though they are, tell one little besides what
Queen Anne, possibly, looked like, and far from there being any attempt to set
her in an environment, we are made to think in terms of a flat surface by the
prominence of the inscription identifying her as the Queen,” contrasting them
with Paul Van Somer’s full-length portraits of Anna from the late 1610s (to be
listed in a forthcoming blog post). [2]
This roundel portrait and the oil
on canvas portrait listed below have traditionally been attributed to Adrian
Vanson (fl. 1581 – died before 1610). An investigation into the Vanson
portraits owned by the National Galleries of Scotland published during the
exhibition, Art and Analysis: Two Netherlandish Painters working in Jacobean
Scotland (at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery from November 2017 to
January 2020), has thrown the attribution of this roundel into doubt. This does
raise the intriguing prospect of other, hitherto unidentified artists working
at the Scottish court during James VI’s reign. See this video.
Adrian Vanson was a Dutch painter
who might have been introduced to the Scottish court by George, 7th
Lord Seton. In a 1579 letter largely concerning the Seton family, written by an
unknown author to Sir George Bowes, it was reported that, “The Flemish painter
is in Stirling, in working of the King’s portraiture, but expelled forth of the
place at the beginning of their troubles. I am presently travelling to obtain
him license to see the King’s presence thrice in the day, till the end of his
work; which will be no sooner perfected than nine days, after the obtaining of
this license.” The painter referred to here could be either Adrian Vanson or
Arnold Bronkhorst. [3] In 1581 Vanson was paid for two pictures, possibly of George
Buchanan, John Knox and/or James VI, which had been sent to Theodore Beza in
Geneva to be included in his Icones, id est Verae Imagines, Virorum Doctrina
simul et Pietate Illustrium (1580). By May 1584, Vanson had replaced Arnold
Bronkhorst as the Scottish court painter, being paid a half-yearly fee of £50.
Vanson painted not only portraits, but also decorative works for the Scottish
court. Vanson became a burgess of Edinburgh in 1585, “for the service wherein
he is to be employed by the town in his craft, and that he take and instruct
apprentices.” [4] On 6 July 1610 James VI & I issued a missive in favour of
Vanson’s widow collecting debts owed to her late husband, so Vanson must have
died prior to this date. The painter Adam de Cologne was Vanson’s son, having
adopting his mother’s maiden name. According to Thomson, “In the last two
decades of the century Vanson appears to have been the only painter at court to
undertake portraiture and for this reason it seems likely that any relatively
sophisticated royal portraits must be from his hand.” [5]
References relating to the
1595 roundel:
[1] Duncan Thomson, Painting in Scotland 1570-1650 (Edinburgh:
National Galleries of Scotland, 1975): 28.
[2] Wood, The Portraits of Anne of Denmark (unpublished MA dissertation,
Courtauld Institute, 1981): 40-41.
[3] Quote taken from Patrick
Fraser Tytler, History of Scotland,
Volume 8 (Edinburgh: William Tait, 1842): 418.
[4] Thomson, Painting in Scotland 1570-1650: 25.
[5] Thomson, Painting in Scotland 1570-1650:
28.
References relating to Adrian
Vanson:
National Galleries of Scotland
website: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/1731/anne-denmark-1574-1619-queen-james-vi-and-i
Duncan Thomson, Painting in Scotland 1570-1650 (Edinburgh:
National Galleries of Scotland, 1975): 25-26, 33.
Duncan Thomson, The Life and
Art of George Jamesone (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974): 46-48.
M.R. Apted and S. Hannabuss, Painters
in Scotland 1301-1700: A Biographical Dictionary (Edinburgh: Edina Press,
1978): 98-99.
James Holloway, Fire Hundrede Års Skotske Portrætter
(Edinburgh: Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1997): 28.
..........
Att.
Adrian Vanson, James VI of Scotland (c. 1595), oil on canvas, 44.5 x 38
cm, Private Collection, sold through Philip Mould & Company. Image from
Wikimedia Commons.
A5: Att. Adrian
Vanson, Anne of Denmark (c. 1595), oil on canvas, 43 x 35 cm, Private
Collection, sold through Philip Mould & Company. Image from Wikimedia
Commons.
This oil portrait of Anna appears
to use the same pattern as the roundel (A4), with some differences. While in the
roundel Anna’s headdress is decorated with pearls and rubies, here it is
decorated with pearls and what appear to be emeralds or another type of pale
green/yellow jewel. Anna’s plain white ruff is not edged with lace here, as it
is in the roundel. The white fabric and patterned gold bands of her dress remain
visible.
Lucy Wood and Catherine MacLeod’s
analysis of this portrait type is included in the entry for the 1595 roundel
(A4), above. Biographical information about Adrian Vanson is included in the
entry for A4.
To us, this seems a very striking
and unusual portrait of a royal consort. The flatness noted by Lucy Wood is
very arresting, especially in the almost abstract treatment of the hair frame,
contrasted with the reality effects created by the variable tones and
lighting/shading of Anna's red hair. The deep, velvety blackness of the
background seems to be rendered continuously with the flatness of the
headdress, and offers a strong tonal contrast with the queen's bright hair,
pale skin and white/gold garments. The impression given is of a series of
planes or intersecting colour fields constructing the portrait's surface,
within which Anna's face, with its dark blue eyes and strong nose, is almost
uncomfortably centred. The portrait's emphasis on the sitter's faciality, her
intense regard of us, seems to prompt the viewer to search her features for a
connection of some kind, but her expression absolutely denies this. The
proximity of Anna's face, so close to the pictorial surface, offers a strangely
closed kind of intimacy with an impenetrable mask of majesty, of a flesh and
blood woman entirely inhabiting the public identity of queen.
References relating to the 1595 canvas portrait:
Philip Mould & Company website: http://www.historicalportraits.com/Gallery.asp?Page=Item&ItemID=1264&Desc=Anne-of-Denmark-%7C-Adrian-Vanson
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A6: Unknown maker,
gold medal with busts of James VI and Anna of Denmark (c. 1595-1603), gold, diameter
57 mm, Royal Museums Greenwich, inv. no. MEC1110. Copyright of this image
belongs to Royal Museums Greenwich. This image is taken from their website,
linked below.
It has been assumed that this
(undated) medal was made to commemorate James and Anna’s marriage in 1589;
however, given that the portrait patterns used for both James and Anna are
those dated 1595 in the paintings above, it seems more likely that the medal
was made at this time or a later date. The medal itself includes no text or
imagery that allows us to interpret it as being commissioned to commemorate a
particular event.
Unfortunately,
this medal has not been the subject of any serious study. It might be
interesting to look at in the context of positioning the English reign of James
and Anna as a continuation of the golden age of Elizabeth I, an allusion also
made by the cloth of gold costumes in the 1595 pendant portraits just
above.
References relating to the gold medal:
Royal Museums Greenwich website: https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/38550.html
..........
A6a: Unknown
artist, engraved title-page of The Lawes and Actes of Parliament, maid be
King James the First and His Successours Kings of Scotland (Edinburgh:
Robert Waldegrave, 1597), with portraits of Scotland’s monarchs from James I to
James VI, Anna of Denmark and Prince Henry. 26.7 x 18.8 cm. British Museum, inv.
no. 1877,0811.1342. Copyright of the image belongs to the British Museum. This
image is taken from their website, linked below.
This is a full-length image of
Anna dating from 1597. The details around her head and shoulders resemble A4
and A5, except Anna is shown here wearing a crown and a jewelled band which rests
on her forehead and a large pearl hair ornament. Her pearl necklace has been
replaced with a chain necklace. Anna holds a pair of gloves and a thistle.
A6a largely follows the same pattern
as A6b and A6c, shown below, except Anna is not shown crowned in those
engravings. Instead the crown rests on a table. Also, the flower Anna is shown
holding in the A6b and A6c is indistinct, while in A6a it is clearly a thistle.
This image of Anna is much smaller than A6b and A6c, so shows fewer details in
her clothing, nor is her figure shown within a fully realised space.
It is interesting to speculate
which engraving of Anna is the earliest in date; A6a from 1597, or A6b and A6c,
whose dates are uncertain, ranging from c. 1596-1603. It is possible they are
all based on the same original image, possibly a full-length portrait of Anna
that no longer survives. Catherine MacLeod has suggested that a full-length
portrait of Anna, now lost, might have been produced after Prince Henry’s
birth. Potentially, this could have been the basis for the images of Anna in
these engravings.
References to this engraving:
British Museum website: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1877-0811-1342
Arthur M. Hind, Engraving in England in the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries: A Descriptive Catalogue with Introductions; Part II, The Reign of James I (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1955): 48-49.
..........
Unknown artist, Iacobus
VI Rex Scotorum (c. 1596-1603), engraving on paper, 24.9 x 17 cm, British
Museum, inv. no. 1864,0813.102. Copyright of the image belongs to the British
Museum. This image is taken from their website, linked below.
A6b: Unknown
artist, Anna Regina Scotorum (c. 1596-1603), engraving on paper, 24.7 x
16 cm, British Museum, inv. no. 1864,0813.8. Copyright of the image belongs to
the British Museum. This image is taken from their website, linked below.
These pendant engravings of James
VI with Prince Henry and Anna of Denmark with Princess Elizabeth are
beautifully realised. The full-length image of Anna closely resembles A6a. Like
A6a, Anna wears a jewelled headdress band, a hair ornament and a chain
necklace. Anna is holding a pair of gloves and a flower. However, she is not
shown crowned in this engraving as she is in A6a; A6b shows the crown placed on
the table to her left.
On the wall behind Anna hangs the
marshalled arms of Scotland and Denmark. The text describes Anna as Queen of
Scotland. These details confirm that the engraving dates from before her
husband’s accession to the English throne in 1603. The pendant engraving of
James VI includes the marshalled arms of Scotland and Denmark surrounded by the
Collar of the Order of the Thistle, and the text describes James as King of
Scotland.
The images of James and Henry in
the pendant engraving are the same as those on A6a, except James is shown
wearing a tall hat in A6b rather than a crown, and he is not holding a globe in
A6b. The hat James wears in A6b resembles the hats he wears in portraits dated
1595, except the hat in this engraving is not decorated with a jewel shaped
like an A as it is in the portraits.
We might deduce from these two
pendant engravings, and the engraving below showing Anna with both Henry and
Elizabeth, that these engravings were made before Anna had further children who
might otherwise also have been included; Margaret was born in 1598 and Charles
was born in 1600. This would date the engravings more securely to 1596-1598.
What is the significance of the
door shown on the back wall, open for James' portrait, yet closed for
Anna's? While James inhabits the public
space of global exchange, Anna inhabits a privatized, interior sphere. Peter
Stallybrass has written that the signs of elite womanhood during the
Renaissance were, “the enclosed body, the closed mouth, the locked house.” [1]
This articulates woman as inviolable male property, secured, like treasure,
within the sphere of his authority. As Stallybrass points out, this was a
treasure liable to insurrection and even escape, lending this trope a certain
amount of barely suppressed anxiety. Whatever the reported exercise by Anna of
her free will during the Scottish reign, within the fantasy space of this
print, the Scottish queen is figured as an exemplary paragon of purity and wifely
virtue. It is interesting to compare the tone of this print to those of the painted
portraits made of Anna by Paul van Somer during the last years of Anna's
English reign, a series of full lengths set against a variety of exterior landscapes,
one of which shows the real space of the hunting park surrounding Oatlands
Palace; others show fantastic architectural perspectives or garden fountains
(to be listed in a future blog post).
[1] Peter Stallybrass, “Patriarchal
Territories: The Body Enclosed,” in Rewriting the Renaissance: The
Discourses of Sexual Difference in Early Modern Europe, edited by Margaret
W. Ferguson, Maureen Quilligan, Nancy Vickers, Catherine R. Stimpson (Chicago;
London: Chicago University Press): 123-142.
References to these engravings:
British Museum website: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1853-0611-12
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1864-0813-102
Arthur M. Hind, Engraving in
England in the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries: A Descriptive Catalogue
with Introductions; Part II, The Reign of James I (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1955): 55.
..........
A6c: Unknown
artist, Anna Regina Scotorum (c. 1596-1603), engraving on paper, 25.8 x
18.1 cm, British Museum, inv. no. 1853,0611.12. Copyright of the image
belongs to the British Museum. This image is taken from their website, linked
below.
This engraving is another version
of A6a and A6b, entirely re-etched on a new plate to feature both Princess
Elizabeth and Prince Henry. The likeness of Prince Henry has been transferred
from the pendant engraving of James VI and Prince Henry in A6a and A6b.
References to this engraving:
British Museum website: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1853-0611-12
Arthur M. Hind, Engraving in
England in the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries: A Descriptive Catalogue
with Introductions; Part II, The Reign of James I (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1955): 55.
..........
A6d: Pieter van der Keere, Anne of Denmark (c.
1603), engraving on paper, 25 x 18.1 cm, British Museum, inv. no. 1927,1008.344.
Copyright of the image belongs to the British Museum. This image is taken from
their website, linked below.
A6d is another version of A6b.
This engraving uses the same plate as A6b, which explains why only Princess
Elizabeth is shown and not Prince Henry, as A6c used a different plate in order
to add Prince Henry.
On this engraving, however, Anna
is described as queen of England, France, Ireland and Scotland, so this version
must date from after her husband’s accession to the English throne in 1603.
Interestingly, the coat-of-arms has not been changed to include James’s new
coat of arms.
Pieter van der Keere (1570/1 –
1645 or later) was a Dutch printmaker and publisher. He fled to England due to
religious persecution and worked in London as an engraver, before moving to
Amsterdam. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG143954
References to this engraving:
British Museum website: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1927-1008-344
Arthur M. Hind, Engraving in
England in the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries: A Descriptive Catalogue
with Introductions; Part II, The Reign of James I (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1955): 55.
..........
Pieter de Jode I, James
VI & I (dated 1603), line engraving on paper, 18.1 x 14.4 cm, British
Museum, inv. no. O,8.161. Copyright of this image belongs to the British
Museum. This image is taken from their website.
A7: Pieter de Jode I, Anne of Denmark (c.
1603), line engraving on paper, 18 x 14.3 cm, National Portrait Gallery, inv.
no. NPG D25721. Copyright of the image belongs to the National Portrait
Gallery. This image is taken from their website, linked below.
This engraving of Anna is based
on the 1595 likeness (A4, A5), but changes have been made. Her ruff has been
flattened into a wide collar decorated with a repeating pattern of
fleur-de-lis-like motifs. She wears a hair ornament with a central jewel and a
pearl pendant, hanging from a pin fixed in her hair. Additional jewels decorate
her gown. The engraver has evidently decided to enliven the severity of the
painted portrait pattern with some extra details, perhaps drawn from an
engravers' model book (such as this one).
The text below the image explains
that Anna is the daughter of Frederick III of Denmark (a mistake; she was the
daughter of Frederick II) and the wife of James VI of Scotland and I of
England, so this engraving was produced after James’s accession to the English
throne in 1603.
Pieter de Jode I (1570-1634) was
a Flemish printmaker, draughtsman, publisher and painter, based primarily in
Antwerp. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG33056
References to this engraving:
National Portrait Gallery website: https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw128173/Anne-of-Denmark
..........
Crispijn de Passe
the Elder/Crispin van de Passe, James I (1604), line engraving on paper,
14.7 x 9.4 cm, British Museum, inv. no. 1868,0822.856. Copyright of the image
belongs to the British Museum. This image is taken from their website.
A8: Crispijn de
Passe the Elder/Crispin van de Passe, Anne of Denmark (1604), line
engraving on paper, 14.5 x 9.6 cm, British Museum, inv. no.
1868,0822.857. Copyright of the image belongs to the British Museum. This image
is taken from their website, linked below.
This engraving resembles A7, as
it also features the flat collar, hair ornament and jewels on the gown that
differentiate it from the 1595 portraits in oils.
The text surrounding Anna
describes her as queen of England, France, Scotland and Ireland. There is a
Latin verse at the bottom.
This engraving of Anna was
featured in Crispin van de Passe’s Regiae Anglicae Majestatis Pictura,
et Historica Declaratio (Cologne: 1604).
Crispijn de Passe the Elder (1564-1637) was a Flemish
draughtsman, engraver and publisher: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG41261
References to this engraving:
British Museum website: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0822-857
Arthur M. Hind, Engraving in England in the Sixteenth
& Seventeenth Centuries: A Descriptive Catalogue with Introductions; Part
II, The Reign of James I (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1955): 40.
..........
Unknown artist,
James VI of Scotland, as represented in John Johnston’s Inscriptiones
Historicae Regum Scotorum (Amsterdam: 1602), engraving on paper, 16 x 12.2 cm,
British Museum, inv. no. 1868,0822.2404. Copyright of this image belongs to the
British Museum.
A9a: Unknown
artist, Anna of Denmark, as represented in John Johnston’s Inscriptiones
Historicae Regum Scotorum (Amsterdam: 1602), engraving on paper, 16.2 x 12.5
cm, British Museum, inv.
no. 1868,0822.2276. Copyright of the image belongs to the British Museum. This
image is taken from their website, linked below.
John Johnston’s Inscriptiones
Historicae Regum Scotorum (1602) features engraved portraits of Scotland’s
monarchs from Robert II to James VI, as well as Anna of Denmark. This is possibly
an adaptation of the 1595 portrait pattern, perhaps especially A4.
Anna wears her hair in a higher
and narrower style than the 1595 portrait pattern. But otherwise the image
remains faithful to the prototype: Anna wears a round headdress edged with points
and decorated with jewels and pearls, her ruff is open at the front and her
pearl necklace is tied at the throat.
The engraving of James VI in
Johnston’s Inscriptiones also follows the 1595 portrait pattern, as evidenced
by the roundel pendant that accompanies A4.
Roger A. Mason claims that Johnston’s Inscriptiones, “was intended as
a celebration of the Scottish royal line in general and the Stewart dynasty in
particular—and as a reminder to James’s prospective English subjects of the
Stewart king’s unrivalled princely pedigree.” [1]
Arthur M. Hind describes this
engraving as, “awkward and ill-proportioned.” [2]
[1] Roger A. Mason, “Certeine Matters Concerning the
Realme of Scotland: George Buchanan and Scottish Self-Fashioning at the
Union of the Crowns,” The Scottish Historical Review 32, (2013): 38-65
(50).
[2] Arthur M. Hind, Engraving in England in the Sixteenth
& Seventeenth Centuries: A Descriptive Catalogue with Introductions; Part
II, The Reign of James I (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1955): 49.
References to this engraving:
British Museum website: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0822-2276
Arthur M. Hind, Engraving in
England in the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries: A Descriptive Catalogue
with Introductions; Part II, The Reign of James I (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1955): 49.
..........
A9b: Att. Jacques
Granthomme, Anne of Denmark (1603), line engraving on paper, 14.2 cm x 9
cm. British Museum, inv. no. 2006,U.734. Copyright of the image belongs to the
British Museum. This image is taken from their website, linked below.
Jacques Granthomme,
James I (1603), line engraving on paper, 14.4 x 10 cm. British Museum,
inv. no. 1848,0911.267. Copyright of this image belongs to the British Museum.
This image of Anna follows the
same portrait pattern as A9a, but it uses a different plate and Anna is shown
facing right rather than left. In this image her hands are not visible. James
is shown wearing armour.
These engravings of Anna and
James describe them as King and Queen of England and Scotland, and gives the
date 1603, so it was evidently produced after James’s accession to the English
throne.
The companion engraving of James
gives the engraver’s name as Jacques Granthomme, so we can presume that Granthomme
also produced the engraving of Anna. Granthomme was a French engraver who was
working in Paris at the time these engravings were produced: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG29623
References to this engraving:
British Museum website: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_2006-U-734
..........
Unknown artist, James VI & I, as represented in A Trewe Description of the Nobill Race of the Stewards: Succedinge Lineallie to the Croun of Scotland unto this Day (Amsterdam: 1602) and A Trewe Description of the Nobill Race of the Stewards: Succedinge Lineallie to the Croun of Scotland unto this Day: And Now this Yeir 1603. unto the Croun of England (Amsterdam: 1603). This engraving is taken from the 1603 edition. Line engraving on paper, 16.6 x 12.7 cm, National Portrait Gallery, inv. no. NPG D25099. Copyright of the image belongs to the National Portrait Gallery.
A10: Unknown artist, Anna of Denmark, as represented in A Trewe Description of the Nobill Race of the Stewards: Succedinge Lineallie to the Croun of Scotland unto this Day (Amsterdam: 1602) and A Trewe Description of the Nobill Race of the Stewards: Succedinge Lineallie to the Croun of Scotland unto this Day: And Now this Yeir 1603. unto the Croun of England (Amsterdam: 1603). This engraving is taken from the 1603 edition. Line engraving on paper, 22.1 x 15.1 cm, British Museum, inv. no. 1865,1210.1104. Copyright of the image belongs to the British Museum. This image is taken from their website, linked below.
The two versions of A Trewe Description of the Nobill Race of the Stewards were published in Amsterdam, at the expense of Andrew Hart, a Scottish printer, publisher and bookseller based in Edinburgh, and with James VI’s permission. One was published prior to James’s accession to the English throne and one after. The Trewe Description uses the same engraved portraits of Scotland’s monarchs from Robert II to Mary, Queen of Scots that are used in John Johnston’s Inscriptiones Historicae Regum Scotorum (1602), but changes those of James VI and Anna of Denmark.
This engraving of Anna is similar
to that in Johnston’s Inscriptiones, but, in the words of Arthur M.
Hind, in this image Anna is, “more elegantly dressed and better proportioned;
hands not shown.” [1] This engraving is much more detailed in general; Anna’s
ruff is decorated with jewels, pearls and cross slits; her dress is decorated
with knots; and her bodice is decorated with double-headed eagles with their
wings and legs outstretched. This portrait may also draw on the B pattern,
which will be discussed in our next blog post.
Anna is still shown wearing her
hair in a high and narrow style, this time, in a high ovaloid shape. She is
still wearing a headdress edged with points and decorated with jewels and
pearls, but she is also wearing a cross-shaped hair ornament made of diamonds
with three pendant pearls. She wears a pearl necklace, tied at the neckline,
its long loop resting on her stomacher.
[1] Arthur M. Hind, Engraving in England in the Sixteenth
& Seventeenth Centuries: A Descriptive Catalogue with Introductions; Part
II, The Reign of James I (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1955): 49.
References to this engraving:
British Museum website: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1859-1210-1104
Arthur M. Hind, Engraving in England in the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries: A Descriptive Catalogue with Introductions; Part II, The Reign of James I (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1955): 49.
..........
How to cite this blogpost: Sara Ayres and Joseph B.R. Massey, “Images of Anna of Denmark: 1574-1603,” Depicting Anna of Denmark (blog), 12 December 2020, Accessed [Date Month Year]. https://depictingannaofdenmark.blogspot.com/2020/12/room-1-images-of-anna-of-denmark-1574.html