Preview: SIX LIVES - THE STORIES OF HENRY VIII’s QUEENS at National Portrait Gallery
Photo credit: David Parry
The National Portrait Gallery’s first exhibition of historic portraiture since reopening is Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens. Curated by Charlotte Bolland, over 140 works are on display for this summer blockbuster event, which is sure to draw large crowds. These days, it is nearly impossible to conjure up an image of the Queens without the bedazzled microphones and Tudor costumes from the musical Six coming to mind. However, the smash-hit West End show is far from the only reimagining of these iconic, tragic heroines. Running from 20 June - 8 September, the NPG invites viewers to contemplate why we are so fascinated by Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Kateryn Parr, and what their significance is today. Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived and for one summer only live (or at least their spirit is) at the National Portrait Gallery!
Walking into the exhibition, we are greeted by an imposing portrait of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger (1537), the King's painter. It is through his hand that we visually understand much of the Tudor court. The large painting depicts the formidable King adorned in robes of velvet and gold to assert the power he held, or wants you to believe he did. To fully engage with this experience, one must acknowledge first that it is because of this man that we discuss the six women forever associated with his name. Infamously, in the pursuit for a male heir and to secure his own legacy, Henry VII constantly remarried at the expense of the lives of those betrothed to him.
There has long been a sense of guilt and validation toward the six Queens, whom history has viewed as being wronged on an extraordinary scale. As a result, they have become martyrs for feminine power, akin to saints. But do we truly know them? Can we see them as individuals, or have their stories diverged so far from reality that art has taken ownership of them?
This exhibition challenges us to reconsider our perceptions. While art immortalises these figures, it also shapes and sometimes distorts their legacies. By examining the portraits, letters, and personal artefacts of these women, we can attempt to peel back the layers of myth and legend, striving to understand their true selves beyond the shadow of the king who defined their fates.
Following closely behind Henry is a photographic display by contemporary Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto. This exhibit features six large-scale photographs of waxworks reimagining each of Henry's queens and each accompanied by an object symbolising their role in the collective narrative. For instance, Katherine of Aragon holds an embroidery for Henry to display her loyalty despite mistreatment, Anne Boleyn presents a lute in reference to her alleged affair with a musician, and Jane Seymour is adorned with the jewels from the previous Queens, symbolising the weight of her inherited legacy. Sugimoto’s work immediately challenges their collective identity, provoking a more invasive exploration into who these women truly were.
The next room immerses visitors in a theatrical experience. The 1920s German film Anna Boleyn, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, plays on the wall while the viewer is surrounded by photographs, costume designs, and paintings from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, all interpret these women through a lens of their time. There are also examples of costumes from opera, theatre, and, of course, one of the SIX musical’s Beyoncé-esque pop explosion costumes. There is a macabre and glittery ownership we seem to have over them, pioneered by art in all different verities. Today, we idolise pop stars so it makes sense that the Queens have become divas singing with a Gen Z vocabulary. It helps us to connect with them. But we have to remember that was not them.
Each of these artistic expressions—film, photography, painting, costume, and pop culture—also offers an interpretation of these women who were more than just wives. The exhibition invites visitors to navigate through these layers of representation, seeking to understand the true identities of Henry VIII's Queens amid the myriad ways they have been reimagined and reinterpreted through time.
From literal theatre to the performance of love and the role of women in the Renaissance court, the exhibition continues to entwine the two before moving into the reality of life.
In chronological order, we meet the Queens. Each are given a room full of artefacts to bring us as close to the real women as possible. Old mate Henry did his best to eradicate most of his wives from the history books so in many instances, their image is a jigsaw made up of personal letters, jewellery, trinkets, and artworks (if they exist). However, to know the Queens held in their hands, these items, feels like a special and intimate sort of time warp without needing to know their faces.
No one room is the same because no one woman is the same and there are interesting and disturbing elements to them as much as there are beautiful. In the room of Anne Boleyn, it is sobering to notice the many portraits of the men who had a role in sealing her fate—from her accused lovers to the men of court manipulating her story for the King's sake. This contrasts with the room of Kateryn Parr, who outlived the King and is represented more honestly through the portraits of her own image.
These women, both alive and in the afterlife, have had their stories pricked and prodded, moulded and imagined to the point that they are now eternal, but only as a version of them. Like the women of the Bible, they saw their reflection in, maybe we see some of ourselves in them?
Ironically, the artwork and artefacts in this exhibition seem to be secondary to the spirit of the women who inspired them making this a unique and strangely immersive experience, and Bolland has made many intelligent and passionate choices for this exhibition as the gallery pays homage to them and aims to unpack the different roles their legacy plays in response to culture with a focus on the present, therefore, giving focus to SIX the Musical. Long live the SIX Queens!
In conjunction with the exhibition are a plethora of events that will appeal to those introduced to the Six through the musical or who are being reintroduced to them through it. On 26 July, there will be a gallery-wide musical takeover for one night only, featuring a special live performance from the SIX the Musical cast, dance workshops, and a DJ set to celebrate the lives and legacies of the queens. Over the summer, there will also be specialty lectures, Tudor life drawing, costume workshops, and much more.
For more info on the exhibition, please click here.