The Royal Portrait
Image and Impact
BRITISH SCHOOL, 16TH CENTURY
Elizabeth Woodville (1437?-1492)
1513-1530Oil on panel | 37.6 x 27.0 cm (support, canvas/panel/str external) | RCIN 406785
This panel was originally round-topped and would have been in a gilded, engaged frame, which normally indicates a date of the 1470s-1480s. However, recent dendrochronological (tree-ring) dating has indicated a creation date of c.1513-30. The round-top was later altered (between 1666-7 and 1818) and the painting was transformed into a rectangular format. This was possibly in order to make the painting fit in with a set of early King and Queen portraits.
The wife of Edward IV is shown half-length, resting her folded hands on a ledge in front of her. The artist is unidentified but would probably have been either British or Flemish, working at Henry VIII's court.