Jane Seymour

Jane Seymour, Henry VIII's third wife and the mother of Edward VI, was painted by Holbein around 1536 — the year of her marriage to the king and the year Anne Boleyn was executed. Holbein's portrait presents her with the formal precision appropriate to a queen of England: the elaborate headdress, the jeweled collar and pendants, the composed expression that reveals nothing of the private person within the royal persona. Jane Seymour died in 1537 following Edward's birth. This portrait, made in the brief window of her queenship, is her primary surviving likeness — an image made under the most fraught political circumstances of the Tudor court, when a queen's portrait could be as quickly suppressed as made.

Jane's composed features and rich Tudor costume are rendered with Holbein's meticulous technique. The elaborate jeweled headdress and necklace are depicted with miniature-like precision.