Imagined Lives: portraits of unknown people
Extracts from the stories
The full text of all these biographies and character sketches are available in a publication:
Imagined Lives: Mystery Portraits from the National Portrait Gallery
Imagined Lives: portraits of unknown people is on display in Room 33
3 December 2011 - 22 July 2012
False Mary
by Alexander McCall Smith
Unknown woman, formerly known as Mary, Queen of Scots
by Unknown artist
circa 1570
NPG 96
Mary Peebles, or “False Mary” as she came to be known, is one of the most unusual figures of Scottish sixteenth-century history. She was the daughter of an Edinburgh merchant, a man who had prospered sufficiently to be noticed on the fringes of the Holyrood court of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. This court, of course, was a hotbed of intrigue, a dangerous place for anybody, including a young queen, to be. The Scottish nobles, a bickering and ruthless group, thought nothing of murder as a means of securing their goals, and were not above bringing their murderous schemes into the heart of the Queen’s household.
After the slaughter of her Italian secretary, David Rizzio, Mary Stuart realised that she could trust virtually nobody, including her husband, the vain and scheming Henry Darnley. It is not known how she came to the decision, but shortly after this murder she formed the view that she needed to employ a body double. This device was later to be used by a variety of shady twentieth century dictators, but it was not unknown to prominent figures in the past. The body double could serve more than one purpose: he or she would enable the real person to be in more places more frequently, to obvious political advantage. The double could also draw the fire of those plotting to kill the real king or queen – an occupational hazard for doubles, of course, but grounds for great reward, even if posthumously enjoyed.
Mary Peebles did not resemble Mary Stuart in her colouring or even in her facial appearance, but, very importantly, she was exactly the same height as the Queen, and had a very similar gait and bearing. These factors were enough to make her an obvious choice, and she, naturally enough, accepted the role. It did not at first occur to her that she would a target for assassins; for her, it was a great adventure, enabling her to inhabit regal quarters and enjoy the French style that Mary brought to the dismal Scottish court.
The Queen liked her and taught her French and deportment. She encouraged her to sit for the numerous Italian portrait painters who attended her court; Mary Stuart herself did not enjoy sitting for portraits, as she found the formal clothing stifling and could not endure hours of immobility in it. In particular, she did not like the constraint to which her waist was subjected. Mary Peebles, by contrast, did not mind this, as she was naturally slim-waisted. “Corsets hold no terrors for me,” she said. “Nor does the weight of jewels burden me unduly. I am content in this employment that the Queen has so graciously given me. It is a great thing that I, a merchant’s daughter, should spend many hours pretending to be the Queen herself, waving from my horse to the small children of the town, dispensing alms as if they were from my own purse, occasionally even doing justice in confining some rogue or vagabond to his just punishment. And the Queen is most kind to me, and gives me the delicate jams that she has sent to her from France. I dine well most nights.”
She soon came to understand, though, the essentially temporary nature of a body double’s work. She now realised that it was only a matter of time before she encountered an assassin’s knife, and so she took to sitting for portraits bearing an iconographical timepiece, occasionally even two, lest the point be missed. She also detested Darnley, who on several occasions forced his attentions on her and then claimed that he had thought she was his wife. She hated him, and when he was blown up at Kirk O’Field, she devised a courtly dance, performed to the words: Darnley is gone skywards, sing hurrah. The words reveal the depth of her feeling, so much so that some suspected that she was involved in the plot against him, or even instigated it.
Nobody knows what happened to her.
Find out more about the portrait
Find out more about Alexander McCall Smith
Imagined Lives podcast
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Listen to extracts on the Imagined Lives podcastEight internationally acclaimed authors have invented imaginary biographies and character sketches based on fourteen unidentified portraits. Who are these men and women, why were they painted, and why do they now find themselves in the Collection of the National Portrait Gallery? With fictional letters, diaries, mini-biographies and memoirs, Imagined Lives creates vivid stories about these unknown sitters from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Courtesy of the National Trust Listen to the podcast in iTunes
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Extracts from the other Imagined Lives stories
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From Blanche Vavasour, Lady Marchmont
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From From A Letter from Catherine Hartshorn, A.D 1587, February 2nd
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From Rosy
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From I Am Mary Douglas
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From The Life of Edmund Audley
He is modestly but well dressed with soft, elegant hands. For all that, he has a sensuous mouth, hinting at a more passionate side.
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From The Life of Nicholas Colthurst
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From The Diary of Paxton Whitfield
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From The Life of Launcelot Northbrook
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From The Tale of Joshua Easement
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Unknown man, formerly known as Richard Weston, 1st Earl of Portland (1577-1635) |
From The Biography of William Wrightson, 2nd Viscount Dorchester
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Unknown man, formerly known as George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (1592-1628) |
Mathilda’s Letter
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Unknown Gentleman, possibly William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585-1649) |
From The Life of Joachim Müller
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A pattern for a portrait of an unknown noble woman, possibly Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) |
From A Hand on my Shoulder
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