Portrait of a Lady of the Wentworth Family (Probably Jane Cheyne)

Hans Eworth · 1563

Medium

Oil on panel

Original size

110.6 × 79.5 cm (43 9/16 × 31 5/16 in.); Framed: 139.7 × 108 × 10.2 cm (55 × 42 1/2 × 4 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Mannerism

This intimate Tudor portrait carries the quiet authority of a woman painted at the height of Flemish-influenced English court portraiture, her gaze composed and her dress a testament to the material wealth of Elizabethan aristocracy. Hans Eworth was a Flemish émigré who became one of the most sought-after portraitists in mid-sixteenth-century England, filling the void left by Holbein's death in 1543. His style blends the precise, jewel-like surface detail of the Netherlandish tradition with the restrained dignity expected of English sitters — every fold of fabric and glint of goldwork rendered with meticulous care. In this 1563 panel, the sitter's rich costume and composed bearing reflect both the painter's technical mastery and the social performance demanded of Tudor noblewomen. Eworth is known to have worked for the court of Mary I and continued painting into the early Elizabethan era, making him a rare chronicler of the Tudor transition — a period when portraiture was identity, not mere decoration. Our hand-painted oil reproduction is executed on panel-mounted canvas using period-appropriate layering techniques, preserving the cool luminosity and fine detail that define Eworth's originals and make this portrait as compelling today as it was in 1563.