Jane Seymour
- Artist: Hans Holbein the Younger
- Date: circa 1537
- Medium: oil on panel
- Dimensions: 25 1/4 in. x 18 7/8 in. (640 mm x 480 mm) overall
- Portrays: Jane Seymour
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is a portrait of Jane Seymour, third queen of Henry VIII. You can see her in half‑length form, wearing a rich red velvet gown with gold cloth sleeves and an English gable headdress. Her jewels show the underdrawing through the skin tones, while the headdress and sleeves still only have a tonal base layer – the painting was never finished.
The panel comes from a tree felled in the 1530s, so it matches the original work by Hans Holbein the Younger from 1536. The artist left this version unfinished, probably after the sitter’s sudden death or Holbein’s own passing in 1543. This canvas lets us glimpse both the life‑like detail and the working process of a Tudor portrait.
See it in person
Jane Seymour is in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery at St Martin's Place, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
