A Queen of a New Invention – New Revised Addition

Towards the end of January, I received some fantastic news that Dr J. Stephan Edwards is to facilitate two lectures on the subject of Lady Jane Grey/Dudley at the Society of Antiquaries in London.

Dr Edwards has now studied the life and iconography relating to Lady Jane Grey/Dudley for over twenty years.  In 2015, he published his long-awaited book ‘A Queen of a New Invention: Portraits of Lady Jane Grey/Dudley, England’s Nine Days Queen’, detailing his research into over thirty portraits that had at one time or another been associated with Lady Jane Grey.

Dr Edwards book provides the only in-depth look into the iconography relating to Lady Jane Grey/Dudley. It is beautifully published, and each portrait is discussed as an individual case, enabling the reader to truly get a good understanding of each separate painting.  The book contains full page illustrations of the portrait’s discussed so that each image can be seen clearly and in some cases in full colour for the first time.

Over the years, I have had the pleasure of communicating with Dr Edwards regarding the subject of Lady Jane Grey/Dudley.  As some of you may already know, it was his book, especially his ‘lost list’ that encouraged myself to create this website and come forward with my own thoughts and discoveries on the subject.  Although I have had a keen interest in the portraits associated with Lady Jane Grey/Dudley from a young age. It was Dr Edwards meticulous research that enabled me to gain a good understanding of the importance associated with provenance information when it comes to the subject of historical portraiture, and for this I am forever grateful.

Dr Edwards has informed me that not only will he be facilitating the lectures in April, but he has also ‘revised’ his 2015 addition of his book ‘A Queen of a New Invention: Portraits of Lady Jane Grey/Dudley, England’s Nine Days Queen’ to include new discoveries and findings on the subject since its last publication.

This new version is due to be published on 12^th Feburary 2024, to mark the four hundred and seventieth anniversary of the death of Jane Grey/Dudley.  Unfortunately, the online link to purchase the book will not be available until the beginning of March, however I will be publishing it here as soon as it becomes available.

Dr Edwards has kindly agreed to answer some questions relating to the new revised addition below.

Why did you decide to release an updated version of A Queen of a New Invention?

The revised edition serves several purposes. I edited the Introduction to reflect my latest thinking on the succession crisis of 1553, and I wanted to correct the significant number of mechanical errors in the text layout. But most importantly, the re-discovery of the Berry Hill Portrait and the results of the technological studies on it enabled me to refine my thinking on that group of paintings. As a result, I re-wrote much of the section on “The Berry Hill Type,” including and especially the entry on the Berry Hill Portrait itself.

What information does the new version bring?

I added an update on the Jersey Portrait following its sale last June, and as noted above, the section on The Berry Hill Type, especially the entry on the Berry Hill Portrait itself, is significantly revised.

Of all the portrait’s discussed in the book, which is your favourite and why? 

To be quite honest, I do not have a favourite portrait since none of them are authentic life portraits of Jane Grey Dudley.

The Berry Hill portrait has now been located. Which other portrait from your ‘Lost list’ would you like to surface the most and why?

Obviously, I would be thrilled if the lost Chatsworth Portrait were re-discovered since it is/was certainly an authentic life portrait of Jane. And I would be almost as thrilled if the lost Lumley Portrait were to resurface since it may also be either an authentic life portrait or a copy of one … perhaps of the Chatsworth Portrait.

After your many years of research into the iconography of Lady Jane Grey/Dudley do you still have hope that an authentic portrait could still be out there somewhere? 

I am not very confident that any of the lost portraits, especially the Chatsworth and/or Lumley Portraits, will ever re-emerge from obscurity. I say that because the evidence strongly suggests that the Chatsworth Portrait was deliberately destroyed no later than the first decades of the nineteenth century because it had decayed beyond repair or restoration. And art historians have been very diligent over the past century in searching out all of the surviving works from the Lumley collection, so it seems all but certain that it, too, was destroyed at some point in the distant past.

The subject of Jane Grey/Dudley has inspired artists for hundreds of years and still goes on today. What do you think is the main reason why Jane’s story has travelled down the centuries?

I think the traditional story about Jane Grey has remained popular because it has been so heavily fictionalized, even by her supposed “biographers” (Strickland, Davey, Chapman, Plowden), to create a compelling drama. Her story has been shaped by a long succession of well-intentioned writers to meet a variety of agenda, mostly religious and cultural, and “touched up a bit” in a deliberate effort to make the story more appealing. I do nonetheless believe the “real” story of Jane Grey is very appealing on its own merits. But peeling away the accumulated melodrama necessarily changes the tone of the story, and most people naturally cling to the “original” (fictionalized) story they know so well and are slow to accept a different interpretation. That’s just a normal human reaction.

For further information on the two lectures facilitated by Dr Edwards and how to book tickets click on the thumbnail images below.