Description
Henrietta Maria (1609-1669) was the French-born queen of England and wife of King Charles I. The most famous life-size portraits of her are by the great Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck whose elegant style influenced English portraitists, including those like Hoskins who specialized in miniatures. In contrast to earlier English portrait miniatures, this one includes the kind of landscape detail that Van Dyck often included.
The queen was a Catholic in a country that was completely dominated by Protestant forces. As she is wearing a jeweled crucifix, a characterisitc piece of Catholic devotional jewelry that Protestants at this time would have taken as inappropriate, it seems likely that this portrait was for a Catholic supporter, for whom she raises her right hand toward her heart.

Queen Henrietta Maria
Conservation
Date | Description | Narrative |
---|---|---|
5/01/1964 | Treatment | other |
10/27/1971 | Examination | examined for condition |
1/26/2015 | Examination | Examined for loan |
Exhibitions
- Four Centuries of Miniature Painting from the Collections of the A. Jay Fink Foundation, Inc. and A.J. Fink, Personally. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. 1958-1959.
- Jewelry - Ancient to Modern. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1979-1980.
- Small Northern European Portraits from The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. National Gallery of Art, Washington. 2000.
- Pearls on a String: Artists, Patrons, and Poets at the Great Islamic Courts. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco. 2015-2016.
Provenance
Collection of J. P. Morgan [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; A. Jay Fink Foundation, Inc., Baltimore, 1963, by bequest; Walters Art Museum, 1963, by gift.
Inscriptions
[Signature] IH
Credit
Gift of the A. Jay Fink Foundation, Inc., in memory of Abraham Jay Fink, 1963
Creator
Period
ca. 1635 (Baroque)Accession Number
38.241Measurements
H: 3 9/16 x W: 2 3/4 in. (9 x 7 cm)Geographies
- United Kingdom, England, London (Place of Origin)