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Lady Jane Grey

6 of 57 portraits of Lady Jane Grey

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Lady Jane Grey

after Unknown artist
line engraving and etching, after 1553
4 1/8 in. x 2 5/8 in. (105 mm x 66 mm) paper size
Reference Collection
NPG D21401

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Unknown artist, Artist. Artist or producer associated with 6578 portraits.

This portraitback to top

The source for this print is unknown, although it is likely to be a book illustration. The Latin inscription specifies that Lady Jane was the crowned Queen of England. This suggests that the print may well have originated in continental Europe, a theory supported by the sitter's costume. The print can therefore be seen as evidence of Lady Jane's Europe-wide fame. It suggests that European engravers formulated their own image of Lady Jane Grey rather than referring to English sources.

Events of 1553back to top

Current affairs

King Edward VI dies at Greenwich at the age of sixteen, having recently changed his will to name the Protestant Lady Jane Grey as his successor. Lady Jane reigns for barely a week before the Catholic princess Mary Tudor is proclaimed Queen.
Lady Jane is imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Accession of Queen Mary I. She relinquishes the title of 'Supreme Head of the Church of England' and restores Roman Catholic bishops.

Art and science

The Spanish physician and theologian Michael Servetus publishes Christianismi Restitutio (The Restitution of Christianity), in which he describes the pulmonary circulation of the blood and denies the the Holy Trinity and the divinity of Christ. The French Protestant reformer Jean Calvin has Servetus burnt at the stack for heresy in Geneva.

International

German Catholic and Protestant princes form the League of Heidelberg to oppose the election of Philip of Spain as Holy Roman Emperor.
Richard Chancellor becomes the first English sailor to reach the northern coast of Russia. He is received at the court of Ivan IV (the Terrible), Tsar of Russia, in Moscow and negotiates an Anglo-Russian trade agreement.

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