Henry VIII’s Wives Reign in the Exhibition, ‘Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens’
Henry VIII's six wives are often relegated to a footnote in English history. London's National Portrait Gallery hopes to help reverse that with the exhibition, Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII's Queens.
Opening last June 20, the exhibition dedicates a gallery to each of Henry's wives: Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr. It explores, not only their personal lives, but also their influence on politics and history-an influence that still echoes today. Six Lives features exquisite paintings by Hans Holbein the Younger-making for the NPG's first historical portrait exhibition since its refurbishment-the queens' personal possessions (such as playing cards, prayer books and watercolors), and an immense variety of media portraying the queens centuries after they died.
Also present are figures who surrounded the queens, including Joan, Lady Meutas, who served four of them.
Henry VIII, of course, is also there: although his six wives are in the spotlight, his immense field and tournament armour and a copy of his lost portrait by Holbein, displayed at the start of the exhibition, announce his imposing presence.
Henry's queens have inspired the five centuries of artifacts displayed in Six Lives, but also the other NPG activities, including multiple lectures and workshops, as well as the Gallery's staging of Six the Musical, which reimagines the six queens as singers who later form their own band.
Six Lives will remain on display at the National Portrait Gallery until September 8.