All posts tagged: Boleyn

AI Used to Identify Unknown Subject in Holbein Drawing as Anne Boleyn

AI Used to Identify Unknown Subject in Holbein Drawing as Anne Boleyn

Published by Jenni Sidey

Using artificial intelligence, researchers may have identified the previously unknown subject of a sketch by Northern Renaissance artist Hans Holbein, and reidentified the sitter for a related Holbein drawing. The study, carried out by Karen L. Davies and Hassan Ugail, was published in the journal npj Heritage Science. Holbein was born in Germany but moved to England to escape the European Reformation, initially under the patronage of Oliver Cromwell and Henry VIII’s ill-fated second wife, Anne Boleyn. He worked as a portraitist in the Tudor court starting around 1526 until his death in 1543. Related Articles Both of the artworks in question—known as Anne Boleyn and An unidentified woman—are part of the Royal Collection Trust, which owns some 85 drawings by Holbein. Only 30 of these drawings, the study points out, are related to paintings whose subjects are clearly identified. Until now, this left historians to rely on inscriptions from 18th-century copies of Holbein originals to identify the drawings’ sitters. Davies and Ugail, however, used computational facial recognition to suggest that the “unidentified woman” is …

Anne Boleyn Portrait ‘Rebuttal’ of Witchcraft Rumors, Say Historians

Anne Boleyn Portrait ‘Rebuttal’ of Witchcraft Rumors, Say Historians

Published by José Betancourt

A portrait of Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s ill-fated second wife, is now thought to be an attempt to rehabilitate her image after her death. Using infrared reflectography, historians and curators have uncovered evidence that the work was at least partially created to dispel rumors that Boleyn was a witch with six fingers. In the painting, which hangs in Hever Castle in England, both of Boleyn’s hands, each with the usual number of digits, are visible. But the new infrared scans reveal that the underdrawing for the portrait didn’t show her hands at all, suggesting that the work’s unknown maker deviated from the drawing to include them. Related Articles Sixteenth-century portraits, especially those of royalty, were often based on “patterns”—sketches made from life during brief sittings. Not only were these used by the artist who made the original sketch, copies of this “official” likeness were circulated to other studios and workshops to ensure a consistent image of the sitter.   The Hever portrait may have been made from one such copy, but at a later time. …