Unknown woman underneath Elizabeth's portrait
Today I want to discuss about ‘Portraith with a serpent’ that depicts Queen Elizabeth Tudor. Underneath Elizabeth’s face there is a portrait of unknown woman. She is facing opposite direction and in a higher position than the queen. According to National Portrait Gallery, :
”The X-ray shows a female head in a higher position, facing in the opposite direction to the portrait of Elizabeth. The eyes and nose of the face underneath can now be seen where paint has been lost from Elizabeth’s forehead. The lips and headdress can also be seen, as can the ruff which was positioned underneath Elizabeth’s chin. The identity of the original sitter remains a mystery but the unfinished portrait appears to have been very competently painted, probably by a different artist. The original sitter appears to have been wearing a French hood of a type that was fashionable in the 1570s and 1580s, suggesting that there may have been a period of a few years before the panel was re-used.”
If you look closely, you can notice the similarity between unknown woman and … Anne Boleyn! The oval face with dark dramatic eyes, high cheekbones and full lips bears resemblance to contemporary accounts on Anne Boleyn’s appearance. This portrait looks very similar to NPG and Hever portraits of Anne Boleyn.
