Anne Boleyn
- Artist: Unknown artist
- Date: 22 June 2023
- Medium: oil on panel
- Dimensions: 21 3/8 in. x 16 3/8 in. (543 mm x 416 mm)
- Portrays: Anne Boleyn
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
In front of you is a small, striking portrait of Anne Boleyn, Queen of England from 1533 to 1536. The oil on panel shows her head with a long neck and a wide mouth, just as contemporary accounts described. Her eyes are deep black, “beautiful” in the words of the period. Around her throat hangs a simple necklace with a pendant letter B—a detail that links her to her name. Although painted by an unknown artist in the late sixteenth‑century, it is thought to be based on a lost original from her reign. The work captures both her courtly grace and the brief yet pivotal role she played in Tudor history.
See it in person
Anne Boleyn is in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery at St Martin's Place, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
