I think everyone with an interest in history knows the Tudors are top of the tree. So many books, articles and tv dramas or documentaries. This year there has been an exhibition of the work of the artist Hans Holbein, Henry VIII’s painter. At the present time, the National Portrait Gallery has an exhibition called Six Lives - the stories of the six wives. I’ve been to both. The Holbein exhibition was outstanding, to see the originals of Holbein’s sketches was amazing. However, I don’t feel quite the same about Six Lives.
Six Lives costs £21 plus a donation to the NPG. Highlights for me were the small charm whistle and cosmetic attachments that Henry VIII was said to have given Anne Boleyn, the original bronze medal of Anne Boleyn from 1534, and documents from the National Archives. These had been borrowed from other museums, and there were other items borrowed from colleges and a few from private collectors. The vast majority of the portraits, however, were from the NPG’s own collection, which you can usually see for free whenever you want. That’s the issue for me - £21 is an awful lot of money to pay for most of the exhibition you can see for free. The exhibition runs until September 8th. If you can’t visit then, or are put off by the price, just remember you can see most of the portraits for free at the NPG.
Below, miniature charm given to Anne Boleyn
