Mary Nevill, Lady Dacre and her son, Gregory, Baron Dacre. Lady Dacre's life reads like an historical novel with a twist - a common tale of murder, plague, hanging and multiple marriages with this formidable lady bullying Henry VIII into doing what she wanted. Rare for a woman, Mary is placed on the left side of the pairing, a position traditionally reserved for male authority. The position may reflect her strength of character and power in the family and contemporary accounts indicate that Gregory was dominated both by his mother and later by his wife Anne Sackville. Oil on panel 1559, by Hans Eworth (1540-1573) the most talented painter working in England following the death of Hans Holbein.
National Portrait Gallery, London. Please enlarge the powerful image to fully examine the Elizabethan period costumes worn by Mary 36 and Gregory 21.
I tried my best to get really interested in
The Tudors on Showtime but just couldn't. I thought the actor playing King Henry VIII was just too slight of build to be believable. The Tudors in this double portrait have some meat on their bones.
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