• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Historical Writers Association

The official website of the HWA

  • Members
  • Awards
  • Events
  • Historia
  • About us
  • Resources
  • Contact
  • Login

Portrait of an Unknown Woman

Portrait of an Unknown Woman

Portrait of an Unknown Woman

14/04/2015 by Vanora Bennett

It is 1527. The English Renaissance is in full swing under the young King Henry VIII. The young German painter Hans Holbein, who has come to London to seek his fortune, is delighted when he gets a commission to paint the family of Thomas More, one of England’s leading statesman and men of learning, at his country home in Chelsea. The story, seen through the eyes of More’s young ward Meg, is framed by the two portraits Holbein will paint of the family – the first when Thomas More is about to become Lord Chancellor and is at the peak of his powers, and the second, seven years later, after More has resigned his job in protest at the King’s decision to divorce his first wife, the Spanish Catholic Catherine of Aragon, and marry the Protestant Anne Boleyn. With disaster looming for the Mores, Holbein’s genius for truth-telling through his painting brings out all the family secrets in the second of the portraits.

About the author

  • Vanora Bennett- writer profile

Buy this book

  • Amazon

Primary Sidebar

Press enquiries

We welcome enquiries from the media and are happy to put you in contact with our members.
Press Enquiries

Join the HWA

Find out more and apply to join
Join Us

Copyright © 2014–2025 Historical Writers Association Log in