"Christina of Denmark", Hans Holbein The Younger (1538)
[quote] Following the 1537 death of the English Queen Jane Seymour, Holbein was commissioned to paint portraits of noblewomen eligible to marry Henry VIII. Christina was Duchess of Milan, and widowed to Francesco II Sforza, who had died in 1535 when she was just thirteen. Thomas Cromwell sent Holbein and the ambassador Philip Hoby to Brussels to meet with her. He was tasked with providing a straightforward, exact portrait of the girl.[/quote]
She was very intelligent, too—and fortunate:
[quote] Christina was aware of Henry's earlier mistreatment of his wives. She is reported as saying, "If I had two heads, I would happily put one at the disposal of the King of England". Various political and practical obstacles related to her ties with the Lutheran church also thwarted the match.
Art historian Derek Wilson wrote that the portrait "is the loveliest painting of a woman [Holbein] ever painted, that is, it is one of the finest female portraits ever painted."
Despite it not resulting in the marriage he had hoped for, Henry liked the portrait so much that he kept it until he died. It was acquired in 1909 by the National Gallery, London, where it is on permanent display.[/quote]
