Skip to main content

Secondary sourcePaintinglate 16th century (copy of lost original)

Anne Boleyn

Unknown artist · late 16th century (copy of lost original)

A late-16th-century painted portrait showing Anne Boleyn in a French hood with her 'B' pendant, the standard image by which she is remembered.

This is the best-known painted image of Anne Boleyn, copied from a now-lost original made during her lifetime.

Ask Ann Boleyn about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Oil portrait of a pale-faced woman with brown hair under a pearl-studded hood with gold trim. She wears a black dress with pearl and gold embroidery, a pearl necklace with a gold B pendant, and a fur-trimmed sleeve. Latin inscription across the top reads ANNA BOLINA UXOR HENRI OCTA.
Unknown artist, Anne Boleyn, late 16th-century copy of a lost original. National Portrait Gallery, London.

About this source

What it is

This oil portrait is a copy made later in the 16th century of an original painting that no longer survives. It shows a woman identified by a Latin inscription as Anne Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII, wearing a pearl-studded hood, a black and gold dress, and a pearl necklace with a gold 'B' pendant. It is held by the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Why it matters

Because no confirmed portrait made during Anne's own lifetime survives, this copy became the standard image used to remember her in the Elizabethan age, long after her execution in 1536. It shows how later generations, including her daughter Elizabeth I's court, shaped the way Anne was pictured and remembered.

Look closer

  • Why might it matter that this is a copy, not an original made in Anne's lifetime?
  • What do the jewellery and clothing suggest about how Anne wanted to be, or was later shown to be, seen?
  • What does the Latin inscription tell us about who the painting was meant for?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Ann Boleyn on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Ann Boleyn sources

Meet the AI Ann Boleyn →
Scan of a handwritten manuscript page on aged, brownish paper, written in dense brown-black ink in a sixteenth-century hand, with a page number 5 in the top right corner. At the bottom is a round embossed or stamped seal reading 'Apostolica' and a signature with a flourish. The page is folio 5 recto of a letter.Letter

Primary source

Love letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn

Henry VIII · c. 1527–1528

Pencil and coloured chalk drawing on pinkish paper of a woman in profile facing left, wearing a white hood with a yellow-gold edge and a high collar. The inscription 'Anna Bollein Queen' appears at top left.Painting

Primary source

Anna Bollein Queen

Hans Holbein the Younger · c. 1533–1536

Pen and wash drawing in an octagonal frame of Apollo seated in a canopied throne holding a lyre, surrounded by nine women playing instruments and reading, with a decorative stone balustrade and pedestals at the base and sides.Painting

Primary source

Apollo and the Muses on Parnassus

Hans Holbein the Younger · 1533

Black ink handwritten signature on white background. Cursive text on top reads 'Anne the Quene', with a long horizontal flourish underneath that loops at both ends, forming stylized initials.Document

Primary source

Signature of Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn

Title page of a 1545 French printed book. Large capital letters read EPISTRE, followed by a description of the trial of Queen Anne Boullant of England, and the author line 'par Carles Aulmosnier de Monsieur le Daulphin'. A woodcut of a courtroom scene with seated judges in robes and hats fills the middle. Below, the imprint reads 'On les vend a Lyon, pres nostre Dame de Confort' and 'D. XLV'. A handwritten signature and library stamps appear at the bottom.Book

Primary source

Épistre Contenant le Procès Criminel Faict à l'Encontre de la Royne Anne Boullant d'Angleterre

Lancelot de Carle · 1536 (printed 1545)

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Ann Boleyn now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions