Anne Bacon Drury facts for kids

Anne Bacon Drury (1572–1624) was an important English woman who supported writers and artists. She is famous for a special room in her house called a "painted closet." This room is a very rare example of how people decorated their homes during the Jacobean period (when King James I ruled England).

Anne Bacon Drury's Family and Marriage

Anne was the fourth daughter of Sir Nicholas Bacon and Anne Butts. Her grandfather was Sir Nicolas Bacon, who held a very important job in the government. Her uncle was the famous philosopher and scientist, Francis Bacon.

A relative, Philip Gawdy, used to call her "Nann Bacon." In 1592, Anne married Sir Robert Drury (who died in 1615). He lived in places called Hawstead and Hardwick. Anne's parents gave her a dowry of £1,600 when she married. A dowry was money or property given by the bride's family to the groom or his family.

Anne was a good friend of the poet John Donne. Donne wrote some poems called Anniversaries to remember Anne's daughter, Elizabeth Drury. Elizabeth died in 1610 when she was only 14 or 15 years old.

Her Special Painted Closet

Anne Bacon Drury created a special room in her home at Hawstead Place, near Bury St Edmunds. This room was called a painted bedroom closet. It was a private space where she could meditate, study, and spend time with close friends.

The walls of this closet were covered with painted wooden panels. These panels were later moved to Hardwick House, Suffolk. Today, you can see them at Christchurch Mansion, which is part of Ipswich Museum. The paintings on the panels include forty different symbols, often with Latin phrases.

Travels Abroad

In August 1610, Anne's family received special permission from the king to travel. They were planning to go from France to Spa in Belgium. They traveled abroad again in 1611, after their daughter Elizabeth passed away. In August 1612, Anne and Robert Drury were in Vlissingen (a city in the Netherlands) and met Viscount Lisle.

Later Life and Legacy

Sir Robert Drury died in April 1615. Anne Drury wrote her will in 1621. In her will, she left a special cloth bed that she had embroidered herself to her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Drury Cecil, who was the Countess of Exeter. Her painted closet also had a couch bed inside it.

Anne Bacon Drury died on June 5, 1624, at Hardwick House. She was buried in All Saints' Church in Hawstead.

Monument to Elizabeth Drury

Anne and Robert Drury had another daughter named Dorothy, who died at age 4 in 1597. Their daughter Elizabeth Drury died in 1610. To remember Elizabeth, a special portrait was made showing her lying down as if she were still alive.

There is also a monument for Elizabeth in Hawstead church. It has a statue of her in a similar pose. The monument includes a poem that might have been written by John Donne, who also wrote an elegy (a sad poem) for the child.