Anthony van Dyck, 'Queen Henrietta Maria', about 1631–2

On 8 August 1632, Charles I authorised payment to Van Dyck for £20 for ‘One of our royall Consort’. This was perhaps the first single portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria painted by Van Dyck after his arrival in London, and it provided a type from which many variations by the artist and his assistants followed.

The charm of the portrait is matched by the lightness of tone and touch with which it is painted: the silvery-grey dress, against dark green, setting off pale pinkish scarlet bows and the pink roses under her right hand. The flesh is modelled with extreme delicacy and her fashionable dress is also recorded with great care. The curtain originally projected more to the left and seems to have been altered by Van Dyck to its present form, and there are signs of alterations down the shadowed area of the Queen’s left sleeve. This painting was probably the source of the Queen’s portrait in the series of royal portraits in the Mortlake tapestry at Houghton Hall, Norfolk.

In his early English portraits Van Dyck includes fashionable details of dress (such as the spiky lace cuffs seen here) that he later tended to omit or simplify. The queen’s bodice and skirt have been pinked with with wavy lines to produce a decorative effect in the lustrous silvery-blue silk, while the ‘carnation’ pink ribbons add warmth to the cool palette. As part of her dowry Henrietta Maria brought a pair of large teardrop-shaped pearls, probably the earrings seen here. Later known as the Mancini pearls, they still survive today.

Text adapted from the Royal Collection website