Portraits of Tudor monarchs in court records

Only a handful of images of Henry VII appear in the plea rolls, with most rolls including decorative and heraldic elements only. Here we see the king between two advisors, a churchman and a secular figure, both of whom have their hands in prayer. The rest of the parchment provides additional decoration including a chained monkey, a dog and an archer.

The youthful Henry VIII (here just shy of his 25th birthday) is shown surrounded by his advisors. This design was formed using a wood-cut block and then decorated with bright colours. The group are framed by figures called wodewoses (wild men of the woods) who are fighting dragons.

A change of design can be seen in this portrait. The king is depicted in profile, with a square jaw and beard. He is framed within a window and holds a rose. It is possible that an experimentation in style may have been influenced by the painter Hans Holbein, who was present in England and in royal service at the time.

This is a highly unusual image of Henry VIII. The king is depicted as the Man of Sorrows, a topless Christ figure with a crown of thorns and crucifixion injuries, but with Henry’s face. The Man of Sorrows (although without the distinctive face) can also be found in a prayer book owned by Anne Boleyn, alongside a love note from the king. It is unclear whether the image was meant to be a form of religious commentary or subversive.

This is the last illuminated image of Henry VIII’s reign. He is depicted as bloated but regal. He is crowned with a sceptre and orb in a beautifully decorated image. A year later, the king would die.

This richly detailed depiction of a pre-teen King Edward VI shows him sat on his throne. He is surrounded by two of the court’s chief officials and overseen by a black dove. The supporting figures exhort God, ‘do us not forsake … but always defend our king, realm, and law’.

This fascinating plea roll portrait was the first of Mary’s reign. It depicts the newly crowned queen surrounded by the events of the succession crisis of 1553 which led to her taking the throne. The various scrolls were perhaps initially intended to contain text but were left unfinished.

After her marriage to Prince Philip of Spain in 1554, both queen and king were depicted in the plea roll portraits. The figures are realistic and are similar to other contemporary images of the couple. A kneeling individual presents a parchment roll to the throne, probably linked to the appointment of a new chief justice that year.

Elizabeth I is shown here as youthful, graceful, and with a tiny waist, accentuated by the slight raise of her ermine robe. The queen’s hair flows freely over her shoulders with a frilled ruff around her neck and a golden necklace.

This portrait of Elizabeth is based on an engraved copper plate print, which was also used in the frontispiece to Christopher Saxton’s Atlas of England and Wales, published a few years previously. As with Henry VIII’s early wood-cut prints, the base image of the Queen was then delicately painted over in an attempt to present it as a painted original.