A 16th-century portrait of Thomas Cromwell goes on display at Hever Castle.
A rare portrait of Thomas Cromwell, the protagonist of Wolf Hall, will be displayed for the first time at Hever Castle, Anne Boleyn’s childhood home.
King Henry VIII’s infamous minister Thomas Cromwell has many links to Hever Castle and its most famous former resident Anne Boleyn. Cromwell was the mastermind behind Anne Boleyn’s meteoric rise to the throne of England and played a significant role in her brutal downfall three years later.
The important portrait will join a celebrated collection of 16th-century portraiture in Hever’s Long Gallery, which tells the story of the Tudor Dynasty, Henry VIII’s Great Matter, and the Reformation.
The painting is being launched as the BBC’s adaptation of Wolf Hall airs on the BBC1.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light covers the last novel in the late Dame Hilary Mantel’s celebrated Wolf Hall trilogy, which charts the unlikely rise and dramatic downfall of Thomas Cromwell.
The newly unveiled 16th century painting at Hever Castle is a smaller, head and shoulders version of the famous portrait of Thomas Cromwell (c.1532) by the celebrated court artist Hans Holbein the Younger, the original of which hangs in the Frick Collection, New York.
An intriguing character in history, and central to Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, Thomas Cromwell oversaw King Henry VIII’s dramatic decision to break with the Church in Rome to fulfil the annulment of the King’s marriage to Queen Catherine, which enabled Anne Boleyn to become Queen of England..
Hever Castle’s Assistant Curator, Dr Owen Emmerson, worked as one of several historical consultants on the latest BBC adaptation of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light.
He says of the portrait of Thomas Cromwell: “When I first saw this painting listed at auction back in 2020, I thought twice about suggesting the purchase, for fear of what Anne Boleyn would have thought of us hanging a portrait of the man who orchestrated her downfall in her home. However, I remembered that before Anne’s downfall, she had threatened Cromwell with his life, telling him that she wanted his head off his shoulders, and I then reasoned that, since the portrait only shows his head, we were, in a way, fulfilling her wishes.”
Dr Owen Emmerson adds; “It is also true to say that Cromwell didn’t only break the Boleyn’s fortunes; he very much made them, and was integral to their story too.”
Nearly 500 years later, Thomas Cromwell and Anne Boleyn still draw much attention; they were both at the centre of one of the most turbulent times in British history. One time allies and reformers, relations broke down and Cromwell played a key role in fulfilling his master Henry VIII wishes to rid him of Anne Boleyn.
A divisive person in history, Cromwell’s portrait will be hung by Hever’s curatorial team in a part of the Castle unknown to Anne Boleyn, or her family, and in the Long Gallery, commissioned by Anne of Cleves when she took purchase of the Boleyn’s family home some time after Anne’s death.
It is perhaps fitting that the portrait will hang in the part of the Castle commissioned by Anne of Cleves as Cromwell’s influence was great in her life too, and extended to her marriage and subsequent move to Hever Castle.
The ‘other’ Anne of Hever Castle
Anne of Cleves story, another important ‘Anne of Hever’, features in the second series of Wolf Hall.
Owen says: “The marriage of our ‘other Anne’: Anne of Cleves is important in the Tudor story, and the development of Hever Castle itself. Anne was given Hever in her divorce settlement from Henry.”
Recent research by the esteemed architectural historian Professor Simon Thurley revealed that Anne of Cleves significantly contributed to the creation of parts of the building during her tenure, including the Long Gallery, where this newly unveiled portrait of Thomas Cromwell will hang.
After Queen Jane Seymour’s death, Cromwell proposed that Henry VIII take the German princess Anne of Cleves as his fourth queen. Henry married Anne of Cleves in 1540 based on his approval of a portrait painted by Hans Holbein. The marriage had been made for political reasons but was annulled six months later.
Owen explains: “This disastrous marriage underpinned Thomas Cromwell’s downfall, being beheaded on Tower Hill on 28th July 1540, the same day Henry VIII married Anne of Cleves’ lady-in-waiting, Catherine Howard.
“As part of the annulment settlement bestowed upon Anne of Cleves, Henry awarded her the honorary title of ‘The King’s Sister’, £500 a year, a sufficient good household and two palaces. In addition, Henry allowed Anne to lease several manors, including Hever, to enhance her status and income at an annual rent of £9-13s-3½d.
Anne of Cleves was one of the lucky few who survived this tumultuous time, presided over by Thomas Cromwell, acting on behalf of Henry VIII.
This important portrait of Thomas Cromwell once hung at Kimbolton Castle, where Queen Catherine of Aragon had been banished and eventually died in January 1536. The painting remained in the collection of the Dukes of Manchester for many centuries, being purchased by Hever Castle in 2020. The portrait has since undergone a period of cleaning and conservation, which also involved returning the panel to its original head and shoulder size.
Notes
Thomas Cromwell:
Born in Putney to a fuller and brewery owner, Thomas Cromwell spent much of his youth in Italy and the Low Countries, where he learned the skills of banking, diplomacy and trade. He rose in the service of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, King Henry VIII’s chief advisor. Cromwell survived his master’s downfall when Wolsey failed to secure an annulment of King Henry VIII’s marriage to Queen Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn. Rising triumphantly from Wolsey’s ashes, Cromwell would be appointed Master of the King’s Jewel House in 1532, when Holbein immortalised him in oils. Cromwell would then be appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1533 before being confirmed as the King’s principal secretary and chief minister in April 1534.
In 2021, Hever Castle’s Curator, Alison Palmer, recognised a connection between a book of Hours held in The Wren Library at Trinity College Cambridge and the book depicted in the original full-size painting of Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein the Younger. She then worked alongside Castle Historian Kate McCaffrey and Assistant Curator Dr Owen Emmerson to prove that the Wren Book of Hours was the same book owned by Cromwell and depicted in the painting.
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