‘Some stories bear retelling. They compel retelling’: The Lives and Afterlives of Henry VIII’s Queens

Dramatically lit and sumptuously dressed, Anne Boleyn is brought to life by Hiroshi Sugimoto’s lens in the image shown above.

It is easy to believe that she has just stepped into the studio with her lute, ready for her photograph to be taken. However, Sugimoto’s Anne is not flesh and blood but wax. It is based on a model in Madam Tussauds that forms part of a fraught tableau of Henry VIII and his wives.

The six women who married Henry VIII are compelling characters whose stories have been re-examined and retold for centuries. Fragments of their biographies come readily to mind, but what are the sources of these stories? Joins us for a free online talk to hear more about Catherine of Aragon, Anne Bolyen, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr.

Charlotte Bolland will guide us through the National Portrait Gallery’s new exhibition ‘Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens’, in which she will explore portraiture, performance and biography in the context of both the modern presentation of the queens’ lives on page, stage and screen, and the queens’ own use of stories at court in the 1500s.

This event is free and open to everyone, and will take place via Zoom. There is no need to book. Please click on the button below shortly before 5.15pm on the day.

Join the event

Main image courtesy of National Portrait Gallery