‘Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits from Holbein to Warhol’ opened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston on October 7th 2018 and runs until 27th January 2019.
The exhibition features 2 paintings of Lady Jane. The ‘Lady Jayne’ portrait that was discovered in a house in Streatham in January 2006 and was purchased later that year by the National Portrait Gallery and ‘The Execution of Lady Jane Grey’ by Delaroche, which is on loan from the National Gallery.
Lady Jane Dudley (née Grey)
(c) National Portrait Gallery
‘Lady Jane Grey, 1537-1554
Unknown artist
c. 1590-1600
Oil on panel
National Portrait Gallery, London, 6804
Lady Jane Grey was the granddaughter of Henry VII’s youngest sister and was named heir to the throne by Edward VI. However, she reigned for only nine days. Edward’s eldest sister, Mary Tudor, asserted her right to the crown and had Jane imprisoned. Further, Protestant plots against the queen led to her decision to execute Jane, who was beheaded on February 12, 1554, aged 16. By the time of Elizabeth I’s reign, Jane was considered a Protestant martyr. Scratched lines across the eyes and mouth suggest that the painting has been subjected to an iconoclastic attack at some point in its history.’
