A large amount of auction and collection records survive that show that a large number of portraits at various periods in time were being identified as representing Lady Jane Grey. Today, most of these paintings are lost though in some cases small written references survive which tell us a little about each painting.
By producing this page, I am attempting to place all these auction and collection records in one place. This makes them more accessible to the public in the hope of some of these lost portraits being located and studied further.
Each record will be discussed separately. Within this, I will attempt to document as much detail as I am able to find about each individual portrait along with my own thoughts and notes.
Portraits that have been located or at least an image has been located will be discussed in detail on my homepage.
If you know of any image identified as a portrait of Lady Jane Grey that has sold at auction in the past and want to submit details to this page , please, contact me via my contact page. If you also know of any other portraits that have had a previous identification or are still identified as Lady Jane Grey in collections today please get in touch via my contact page.
Title: The Wrest Park Watercolour
Auction Date:
21st October 2015 Lawrences Auctioneers (1416)
12th November 2015 Crows Auction Gallery (lot 613)
3rd February 2016 Lawrences Auctioneers (lot 1390)
Artist Attributed: Unknown Artist
Description: Miniature portrait of an Elizabethan Lady
Size: 3 x 4 inches
Materials: watercolour on vellum
Seller: Unknown
Purchased By: Unknown
Notes: This portrait is based on the Wrest Park portrait which was used extensively as an illustration of Lady Jane Grey during the Victorian period. The portrait was first engraved in 1681 as an image of Lady Jane Grey by Robert White. Recent research by John Stephan Edwards suggests that the sitter in the original portrait is actually Mary Neville.
This portrait has not been located today.
Title: Van de Passe Portrait
Auction Date: 22nd July 1993
Auction House: Sotheby’s Auctions
Lot Number: 31
Artist Attributed: Manner of Hans Holbein
Description: Portrait of Anne Boleyn
Size: 9 x 7 inches
Materials: Oil on panel
Seller: Unknown
Purchased By: Unknown
Notes: Oil on panel portrait wrongly associated with Anne Boleyn and Hans Holbein. This portrait is clearly based on the Van da Passe engraving which for almost four hundred years was thought to depict Lady Jane Gery. The engraving first appeared in 1620 when it was published in Henry Holland’s book Heroologia Anglica. Today, the portrait on which the engraving was thought to have been based on is now thought to depict Catherine Parr, sixth queen of Henry VIII.
This portrait has not been located today.
Title: The Sinclair Miniature
Artist Associated: Nicholas Hillard
Description: Unknown
Size: Unknown
Materials: Unknown
Notes: This portrait was submitted as part of the Fair Women Exhibition in 1894 at the Grifton Gallery. Referred to in the catalogue as a Miniature portrait of Lady Jane Grey from the collection of Sir Tollemache Sinclair, Bart. Sir John George Tollemache Sinclair (1825-1912) was a Scottish landowner and politician. Two properties are connected with Sinclair, Cocken Hall, Durham and Duxbury Park, Lancashire. Cocken Hall was demolished after World War II and Duxbury Park was sold in the 1930’s and is now a golf course.
This portrait has not been located today.
Digital Resources:
https://archive.org/details/fairwomengrafton00graf/page/4
Title: The eBay Portrait
oil on panel
Auction Date: 2019
Auction House: eBay auction site
Artist Associated: Elizabethan English School
Description: For sale we have a wonderful Elizabethan English School oil on oak panel of Lady Jane Grey circa 1553 at the time Jane was made Queen of England for 9 days. It shows Jane in royal robes with a heavily embroidered dress and a magnificent array of jewels and necklaces, she wears a bullion embroidered coif that holds her hair up and a wide brimmed hat with bird of paradise plumes. A rare survivor.
Size: 12x 10 inches (estimated)
Materials: Oil on panel
Seller: Unknown
Purchased By: Unknown
Notes: Early label attached to the back of the panel stating the setter’s identity as ‘Jane Grey reine d’ Angleterre 1554’ (Jane Grey Queen of England 1554). See Stephan Edwards report for further details.
Digital Resources:
http://somegreymatter.com/ebayportrait.htm
Title: The South Carolina Portrait
Oil on Canvas
Auction Date: 13th December 2014
Auction House: Carlton Hall Auctioneers
Lot Number: 419
Artist Associated: HansHolbein, The Master of The Large Hands
Description: Hans Holbein the Younger (manner of)-Lady Jane Grey
Size: 35 ½ x 41 ½
Materials: Oil on canvas
Seller: Unknown
Purchased By: Unknown
Notes: This portrait was for many years in the collection of the Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina. This painting was deaccessioned in June 2014 and subsequently appeared at auction. The costume worn by the sitter is far to late in period to be an authentic likeness of Jane Grey. How exactly this image became known to be a portrait of her is unknown. See Stephan Edwards report for more details.
The current whereabouts of this portrait is unknown.
Digital Resources:
http://somegreymatter.com/sc.htm
Title: Sykes Portrait
Auction Date: 22nd May 1824
Auction House: Christies (London)
Lot Number: 1 (a)
Artist Associated: Hans Holbein
Description: Portrait of Lady Jane Grey, whole length, with a book and crucifix before her. Small
Size: No size given though referred to as small
Materials: No materials given in description
Seller: Sir Mark Masterman Sykes
Purchased By: Milner
Notes: Sir Mark Masterman Sykes, 3rd Baronet, was an English Landowner and collector of books, paintings, coins, and engravings. He lived at Sledmere House, York, and some of his collection including the above portrait was sold off after his death in 1823. Email communication with Sledmere House has confirmed that this portrait is not in the collection today and no documentation regarding it has been located within the collection records.
This portrait has not been located today.
Title: Hoskins Portrait
Auction Date: 25th February 1905
Auction House: Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods
Lot Number: 16
Artist Associated: Lucas de Heere
Description 1, Auction Catalouge: Portrait of Lady Jane Grey, in dark dress trimmed with pearls, and wearing a rope of black and white pearls; white cap, richly ornamented with pearls, and black veil hanging at the back; green background – oval.
Description 2, The Connoisseur Magazine: Portrait of Lady Jane Grey, in black velvet dress with pink sleeves, Jewelled cap and ornaments, on panel.
Description 3, The Connoisseur Magazine: Lucas de Heere, Portrait of Lady Jane Grey, in dark dress trimmed with pearls, and wearing a robe of black and white pearls, white cap richly ornamented with pearls, and black veil hanging at the back, on panel.
Size: 6 inches x 5 inches
Materials: oil on panel
Seller: Property of a Lady. Possibly Miss Hoskins, of Higham, Cockermouth
Purchased By: Unknown, purchased for 110 gns.
Notes: If the artist associated with this work is correct, Lucas de Heere (1534-1584) was a Flemish painter, poet and writer. He fled the Netherlands for England to escape religious persecution. He is first recorded in England in 1566 and is highly unlikely to have painted an authentic portrait of Lady Jane Grey.
The description of the white cap closely resembles that of the French Hood with jewelled billaments and the black veil.
Another description of this painting published in The Connoisseur Magazine, vol. XII, May-August 1905 also reports that the sitter wears pink sleeves and indicates that the portrait had come from the collection of a Miss Hoskins, of Higham, Cockermouth. Higham Hall, Cockermouth, is today a collage. It was the former home to the Hoskins family and was rebuilt 1828 by T.A Hoskins.
This portrait has not been located today.
Digital Resources:
https://archive.org/details/connoisseuranil01colmgoog/page/n82
The Farquhar Portrait
Auction Date: 3rd February 1823
Auction House: Christie’s London
Lot Number: 11 (a)
Artist Associated : Federico Zuccari (Federico Zuccari c.1540-1609)
Description: Portrait of Lady Jane Grey
Size: Unknown
Materials: Unknown
Seller: Unknown
Purchased By: Sir Thomas Farquhar
Notes: Thomas Harvie Farquhar (1775-1836), 3rd Baronet was partner in the banking house of Herries. Farquhar & Co of St James Street, London. He married Sybella Martha in 1809 and purchased an estate known as Granard in Roehampton, Surrey. Thomas Farquhar sold a portrait thought to represent Lady Jane Grey eight years later. The artist associated with this painting had changed to Francois Clouet.
Auction Date: March 26th 1831
Auction House: Christie’s London
Lot Number: 54 (b)
Artist Associated: Francois Clouet (c.1510-1572)
Description: Lady Jane Grey
Size: Unknown
Materials: Unknown
Seller: Thomas Farquhar
Purchased By: Barnes
Notes: No further information has been located on the buyer of this portrat and this painting has yet to be located.
Lady Jane Grey Revisited 