Images(2)

Portrait of Anne of Denmark (1574-1619)

Date1606-1615 (possibly)

Follower of John de Critz the Elder (ca. 1552/3-1642)

OriginEngland

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 28 5/8 x 22 3/4in. (72.7 x 57.8cm) and Framed: 36 3/4 x 32in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1936-695

DescriptionA half-length portrait of a woman, her arms hanging down out of the picture plane, her hands not visible. She wears a richly embroidered red gown with a similarly embroidered black stomacher. A tall, sheer white lace collar stands stiffly and fans out, framing her head. She wears a double strand of pearls, fixed at the front of the neck with a red jewel on the diagonal, and a large multi-partite jewel if affixed to the front of her stomacher. Her reddish hair is pulled to the back of her head and held in place with an embroidered band. She wears drop pearl earrings. A drop pearl and another (black) jewel are set in her hair. The background is a dark, undefined brown. Lettering appears at upper right.
The 4 5/8-inch gilded frame appears to be an early 18th-century replacement. It has a flat, sanded liner, carved openwork raised corner ornaments of acanthus leaves and scallop shells, and continuous C- and S-scrolls on the cyma recta profile.
Label TextJames I succeeded Elizabeth I as monarch in 1603. He was the first member of the royal Stuart line and the first monarch to rule over both England and Scotland. (James had been king of Scotland since the age of 13 months!) He married Princess Anne of Denmark in 1589.

The painter of these portraits is unknown, although details in the likeness of James suggest that it derives from a work by John de Critz the Elder. Anne’s portrait, while clearly painted as a companion to James’s, does not follow any known de Critz likenesses.

What’s the Connection?
James I granted a royal charter to The Virginia Company in 1606, allowing them to establish a settlement in Virginia, which they did the following year. That settlement, Jamestown, and the adjacent James River were named in the king’s honor.
InscribedIn block letters in yellow paint in the upper right corner is: "Anna D. G. Regia/ Magne Bertanie".
ProvenanceOwnership prior to CWF's source, dealer Frank Partridge, is undocumented.