Tudor Portrait Realises $120k
November 22 2021

Picture: Butterscotch Auctions
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The aforementioned Tudor Portrait realised $120,000 over its $5k - $10k estimate yesterday afternoon at Butterscotch Auctions. J Stephan Edwards has revealed the painting was purchased by an individual American collector.
Bendor adds; I was interested to see this before the sale and ordered some high-res photos, which were revealing. In the end, I wondered if it is actually Tudor. Some things puzzled me, like the technnique in the hands, the drying cracks in the face, the overly 'sweet' characterisation, and the apparent lack of the usual style of gilding you'd expect to see in areas like the collar. I'd be interested to know of any dendrochronology tests the new owners do on the panel. The reason this matters is that the portrait has for a long time been held up as 'the original' of a portrait type which has been identified as a member of the Grey family, copies of which have been identified as Jane, the Nine Days Queen, or her sister Katherine, Countess of Hertford, or even Elizabeth I.