insideKENT Magazine Issue 62 - May 2017 | Page 76

ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
ART AT Hever
Castle
HEVER CASTLE & GARDENS, AS WELL AS BEING A HISTORIC LOCAL VENUE FULL OF
HISTORY, HAS AN IMPRESSIVE ART COLLECTION. THE CHILDHOOD HOME OF ANNE
BOLEYN AND WHERE IT IS BELIEVED SHE WAS COURTED BY HENRY VIII CONTAINS WHAT
HISTORIAN DAVID STARKEY HAS DESCRIBED AS “ONE OF THE BEST COLLECTIONS OF
TUDOR PORTRAITS AFTER THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY.” photos © Hever Castle & Gardens
David Starkey with Elizabeth of York
The current owners, the Guthrie
family, are passionate art lovers
and have added to the collection
in the Castle in the 30+ years they
have owned it.
Visitors to the double-moated
castle can view 46 Tudor pictures
including portraits of Henry VIII
and each of his six wives, five of
which were purchased by the
Guthries.
Almost as soon as visitors step
foot into the historic building they
are accosted with evidence of its
rich history with portraits of three
generations of Tudor monarchs:
Henry VII, Henry VIII and Edward
VI in the Inner Hall.
International art dealer and TV
presenter, Philip Mould, says he
considers the only surviving
portrait of Henry’s brother, Arthur,
the greatest acquisition the Castle
has made.
He praised Mr and Mrs Guthrie
for their dedication in securing
“the greatest privately owned
public collection of portraits that
tells the story of the Tudors.”
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Paintings of Henry V and the
Black Prince by Benjamin Burnell
adorn the walls of the Dining Hall
alongside an oil painting of the
room in the 19th century,
showing its original tiled floor. Another unusual
portrait is a painting of
Elizabeth I before she
was Queen, which
can be seen in the
Staircase Gallery.
Two rare pictures of Henry VIII
are also on display within the
walls. Elizabeth of York was
a key figure in English
history, uniting the
House of York and
Lancaster and
solidifying Henry VII’s
claim to the throne.
But despite her
importance in history
there are not many
records of her
appearance. An oil on
display in the Long
Gallery, though small,
is therefore of
tremendous
significance.
An overpainted 18th portrait of
Henry VIII was discovered by art
dealer Philip Mould to have
contained a 16th painting of a
gentler king. This picture, which
was bought by the Guthries in
2004, dates from the time Henry
was courting Anne Boleyn and
would have been painted before
court artist Holbein came to
Britain.
Another rare portrait of Henry
which predates the most widely
known portraits of Henry was
unveiled in March 2015 at Hever.
It is a 16th-century replica of a
portrait in the Royal Collection by
Joos Van Cleeve. This image can
be seen in the Queens’ Chamber
of the Castle alongside portraits
of his six wives.
The Long Gallery also houses a rare royal portrait of Margaret Beaufort,
Henry VII’s mother and grandmother of Henry VIII. There is no surviving
contemporary portrait of Margaret Beaufort and it is unclear whether
this image derives from a lost original or is a posthumous likeness
based on other sources such as the Torrigiano tomb at Westminster
Abbey. The portrait is among the most impressive of Margaret’s
iconography, not least because it is in a state of extremely good
preservation.