Queen Mary I
2 of 50 portraits of Queen Mary I
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Queen Mary I
by Master John
oil on panel, 1544
28 in. x 20 in. (711 mm x 508 mm)
Purchased, 1876
Primary Collection
NPG 428
On display in Room 1 on Floor 3 at the National Portrait Gallery
Sitterback to top
- Queen Mary I (1516-1558), Reigned 1553-58; daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. Sitter associated with 50 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Master John (active 1544-1545), Artist. Artist or producer associated with 3 portraits.
This portraitback to top
It is probable that this portrait is one for which five pounds was paid in November 1544. Contemporary accounts list 'one John that drew her grace in a table' (a wooden panel) at this date.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Smartify image discovery app
- Lost faces : identity and discovery in Tudor Royal portraiture, 2007 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from Catalogue of an exhbition held at Philip Mould, London, 6-18 March 2007), p. 11 number 4
- Bolland, Charlotte; Cooper, Tarnya, The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered, 2014 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 12th September 2014 to 1st March 2015), p. 108
- Clare Gittings, The National Portrait Gallery Book of Elizabeth I, 2006, p. 5
- Cooper, Tarnya; Fraser, Antonia (foreword), A Guide to Tudor and Jacobean Portraits, 2012, p. 45
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 416
- Strong, Roy, Tudor and Jacobean Portraits, 1969, p. 208
- Williamson, David, Kings and Queens, 2010, p. 99
- Williamson, David, The National Portrait Gallery: History of the Kings and Queens of England, 1998, p. 97
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered (12 September 2014 - 1 March 2015)
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1544back to top
Current affairs
Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth I) is restored to the line of succession.King Henry VIII joins English troops at Calais as part of an Anglo-Imperial offensive against France. He besieges and captures Boulogne.
Art and science
The German physician and mineralogist Georg Agricola publishes De Ortu et Causis Subterraneorum (On Underground Origins and Causes), which lays the foundation for the study of physical geology.International
Four days after King Henry VIII's capture of Boulogne, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V breaks his alliance with England and signs a peace treaty with Francis I of France. Henry VIII continues to wage war against France alone.Comments back to top
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Sylvia Ragis
19 December 2018, 06:54
Mary is very carefully not wearing or holding any visible signs of religious afiliation.