Image: A Lady, called Anne Boleyn, by Hans Holbein the Younger

Description: The association of this drawing with Anne Boleyn goes back to Wenceslas Hollar's etching after it in 1649. The inscription on the print reads ANNA BULLEN REGINA ANGLIÆ|HENRICI VIIIui Vxor 2da Elizabeth Regine|Mater, fuit decollata, Londini 19 May 1536 (Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, 2nd wife of Henry VIII, mother of Queen Elizabeth, was beheaded in London on 19 May 1536). It is not known whether the inscription on the etching was taken from the drawing or vice versa. The inscription on the drawing (left of neck) dates from the 17th century and reads Anna Bullen de collata|Fuit Londini 19 May 1536.The identification may have been based on a superficial similarity with some of the late-Elizabethan hack images of Anne. Anne's biographer Eric Ives believes that neither this nor Holbein's drawing in the Royal Collection of a different woman inscribed "Anna Bollein Queen" are of Anne. No certain contemporary likeness of Anne is known, other than a damaged lead portrait medal.
Title: Portrait of a Lady, called Anne Boleyn
Credit: Susan Foister, Holbein in England, London: Tate, 2006, ISBN 1854376454.
Author: Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/1498–1543)
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No