Elizabeth of York

This is an early portrait type of Elizabeth of York. Accurately dating this painting is made difficult by the layers of later overpaint, although it probably dates to the early sixteenth century and therefore could be counted among the earliest Royal Portraits in the Royal Collection.

The wife of Henry VII is shown in head and shoulders view, holding a white rose in her hands and wearing a ‘gable-hood’. It is possibly a contemporary image taken from the life. In 1502 a Flemish artist, Maynard Waynwyck, was commissioned to paint individual portraits of Henry VII, Elizabeth of York, Princess Margaret and Prince Henry to be sent to Scotland on the occasion of Margaret’s betrothal to James IV. It is possible that this is a variant of this, now lost, portrait type.

The painting appears in Pyne's illustrated 'Royal Residences' of 1819, hanging in The Old Drawing Room at Kensington Palace (see RCIN 922153).