The painted portraits of Lady Jane Grey are exceedingly scarce, and probably not a single one of them is authentic; on the other hand, very early and almost contemporary engraved portraits are fairly numerous. The oldest of these latter is one by E. V. Wyngaerde. It bears a certain resemblance to the portrait of her grandfather, the Duke of Suffolk, by Jacobus Corvinus, in the possession of Sir Frederick Cook at Richmond. Although Wyngaerde engraved it in the middle part of the reign of Elizabeth, when many persons were still living, the Queen herself included, who had seen Jane Grey, and who could have set him right, he attributes the original to Hans Holbein, who died in London of the plague, according to recent discovery, in 1543, that is to say, when Jane was but six years old, a fact which renders it impossible for him to have painted any of the numerous portraits attributed to him of Edward VI as a lad in his teens, Edward being born in the same year and month as Lady Jane. The portrait of Jane Grey from which Wyngaerde engraved is evidently by some other artist who painted in the style of Holbein, presumably one of his pupils. It must be remembered that in our own time people are constantly attributing to Gainsborough and Reynolds portraits they could not have painted, so in the seventeenth century it was the fashion to attribute every portrait of the early part of the preceding century to Holbein, whose great name was remembered, whilst those of his lesser contemporaries were forgotten.
(2) In the Earl of Stamford and Warrington’s collection there is a very ancient portrait of Lady Jane Grey, engraved by Lodge. It is not well painted, but is none the less extremely interesting. The features are small and delicate. The costume is rich but simple, and the pretty neckerchief is fastened at the bosom by a bunch of flowers.
(3) Another frequently engraved portrait of Jane Grey, also attributed to Holbein, and engraved in George Howard’s Life of Lady Jane Grey, was for many years in the possession of the late Mr. Wenman Martin, of Upper Seymour Street. The costume is exceedingly rich.
(4) Probably on account of its excessive prettiness, the celebrated picture called “Jane Grey,” in the possession of Lord Spencer, at Althorpe, is likely to remain the most popular likeness of Lady Jane. It represents a sweet-looking young woman of about sixteen, seated by a window, reading an illuminated missal. By her side, on a table, stands a richly chiselled goblet or chalice. The dress is of ruby velvet, made very plain, and with hanging sleeves of a darker material. It was engraved in the last century by Dibden, as the frontispiece of the Decameron, a work which certainly has no association whatever with the poor little “Nine Days’ Queen.” By its general neatness and vivid colouring, this picture may very reasonably be attributed to Luca Penni, an Italian and pupil of Raphael, who painted a good deal in England under Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary. There is a very singular fact connected with this Althorpe picture. The noble Milanese family of Trevulzio has possessed for many generations an almost identical picture which has always been known as a portrait of Lady Jane Grey. A photograph of this picture is in my hands, and certainly the resemblance between it and the Althorpe picture is remarkable. Lord Spencer has most kindly afforded me some interesting details connected with his own picture. “It has been,” he said, “for many generations in our family, and can be traced as a portrait of Lady Jane Grey as far back as the seventeenth century.” Some years ago, Lord Spencer took it down from its place in his gallery, and found on the back of it an inscription in the handwriting of his grandmother, Lavinia, Countess Spencer, to the effect that the picture was a portrait of the Lady Jane Grey, and that what she had written was copied from a much older inscription, which had been nearly obliterated by time. Lord Spencer many years ago saw at Milan the picture above-mentioned, and was struck by its likeness to his own, of which it might have been a copy. Sir George Scharf, although an authority on portraiture, was apt at times to have prejudices and to cast doubt on those historical portraits which have been handed down as authentic for many generations; and his singular ignorance or rather disregard of the value of costume in determining the period of a picture often led him into ludicrous errors of judgment. His reason for discarding the Althorpe portrait of Lady Jane Grey appears rather unreasonable. He objected to it because a tall standing goblet or chalice figures conspicuously on the table beside the lady, such a chalice being, according to him, an attribute of St. Mary Magdalen, and so, too, is the skull, which is not present in this picture. However, an extraordinary number of Tudor portraits represent great ladies with a similar goblet standing beside them. These gold and silver chalices or cups were a common gift from royal god-fathers and mothers in Tudor times, and were frequently stolen from the churches. Lady Jane, we know from the inventories of her effects, had several in her possession.
(5) An exceedingly beautiful portrait, said to represent Lady Jane Grey, is at Madresfield, Lord Beauchamp’s seat in Worcestershire. The face bears a resemblance to that in the engraving by Wyngaerde, and the costume is undoubtedly one that Lady Jane might have worn, and consists of a rich velvet gown, cut square at the neck and filled in with soft lawn and lace. Her head-dress is very elaborate and graceful. Her expression is sweet and noble. This picture is wrongly ascribed to Lucas Van Heere, and is more likely to have been painted by Streete. Independently of its historical interest, it is a beautiful picture. On the other hand, its companion, supposed to represent Lord Guildford Dudley, is absolutely wrong. It represents a tall young gentleman with strongly-marked features and a vapid expression. It is the costume that gives the lie to the tradition that it is the portrait of Lady Jane’s husband, for the dress, with its voluminous ruff, is of the mid-Elizabethan period, and at least twenty-five years later than the death of the unfortunate young gentleman it is said to represent; but, on the other hand, the little velvet cap, with its two plumes, is certainly of the time of Edward VI. The ruff may have been added at a later date by an ignorant restorer.
(6) There is a curious portrait, probably of Lady Jane Grey, in the possession of J. Knight, Esq., of Chawton House, Alton.
(7) A very remarkable portrait, called “Jane Grey,” was formerly in the possession of Colonel Elliot; said to be now in one of the Colleges at Oxford. It was, however, engraved in 1830, and has lately been reproduced in colour by Messrs. Graves of Pall Mall. The face is that of an older person than Lady Jane, but the features are small and pretty, the expression being rather defiant and world-wise. She wears a turban-shaped hat of velvet, studded with immense pearls, which was certainly not in fashion in the days of Edward VI, or even in the last years of Henry VIII. Here again is an instance of costume giving the lie to tradition. Lady Jane could no more have worn such a hat and costume than a lady in 1909 could be painted as wearing the crinoline and spoon-shaped bonnet of mid-Victorian days.
(8) The small semi-miniature in the National Portrait Gallery is wrongly attributed to Lucas Van Heere, who was born in the year of Jane’s execution, and could therefore neither have painted the portrait in question nor any one of the numerous likenesses of Queen Mary ascribed to him, since he was only five years of age when that Queen died.
(9) A small portrait called “Jane Grey” is in the possession of Lord Hastings at Melton Constable, Norfolk.
(10) “A splendid portrait of Jane Grey” was exhibited at the Derby Art Exhibition in 1841—mentioned by Howard. It belonged to a Mr. Harrington, who inherited it from two ancient ladies, the Misses Gray of Derby, in the possession of whose family this picture had been for many generations.
(11) There is a sweetly pretty contemporary Tudor portrait, reputed to be that of Lady Jane Grey, in the possession of Colonel Horace Walpole, at Heckfield Place, Hants.
The Wyngaerde engraving has been frequently reproduced. In the Print Room at the British Museum there are no less than six variations of it. There are also engravings, more or less apocryphal, of Lady Jane by G. W. Krauss and G. C. Schmidt, 1782.
Engraved and fanciful portraits:—
Jane Grey, by G. Smerton, 1824.
Lady Jane Grey, by G. Buckland, 1776.
Lady Jane Grey, by Sherwin.
Lady Jane Grey presenting her prayer-book to Sir Thomas Brydges. Engraved by Wells. 1786.
Lady Jane Grey as Queen. By J. P. Simons.
Lady Jane Grey “From a contemporary miniature at Strawberry Hill,” by Vertue. (The original is now in the National Portrait Gallery.)
Lady Jane Grey. From a portrait in the possession of the Marquis of Buckingham. No name of engraver. She wears a velvet gown open at the throat to display a double chain with pendant cross. On table, large gold chalice.
Paul Delaroche has painted two famous historical pictures, representing events in the last days of Lady Jane Grey’s life—her farewell to Guildford and her execution. They have been frequently engraved.
“Frances Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, and her second husband, Adrian Stokes” (dated 1554). Small half-lengths of the Duchess of Suffolk on the left, and Adrian Stokes on the right. She wears a black dress with tags and jewels, gold-edged ruffs at neck and wrists, black jewelled hoods, two necklaces of pearls, one with pendants, right hand resting on cushion and holding glove, left holding ring. He wears a light-coloured embroidered doublet, black fur-lined surcoat slashed and with tags, ruffs at neck and wrists edged with pink, chain round neck, right hand on hip, left holding gloves, sword at his side. Above her head, Ætatis xxxvi: above his, Ætatis xxi. Dated MDLIV. Panel, 19½ × 27 in. Probably by Corvinus. This picture was engraved by Vertue. Colonel Wynn Finch.
Frances, Marchioness of Dorset. A superb Holbein drawing. H.M. the King, at Windsor.
Frances Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk. Miniature. Was lent to the Tudor Exhibition by Lord Willoughby d’Eresby.
There are fine portraits of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, in the National Portrait Gallery, and in the possession of Sir Frederick Cook. There is also a fine portrait by Corvinus of Henry Grey, Marquis of Dorset, in the National Portrait Gallery, and another in the possession of G. P. Boyce, Esq.
A portrait of Katherine, Baroness Willoughby d’Eresby, and Duchess of Suffolk, is in the possession of her descendant, Lord Willoughby d’Eresby.
In literature, Lady Jane Grey has been a popular heroine. She figures in: The Tower of London, by Harrison Ainsworth. Jane Grey (French novel), by Alphonse Brot. Lady Jane Grey, by Philip Sidney. The life story of Lady Jane is told in Jeanne Grey, by Mdme. de Genlis. The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary. Lives of Lady Jane Grey, by Howard, Agnes Strickland (in Tudor and Stuart Princesses), and Dr. Harris Nicholas.
There is a fine elegy of Lady Jane Grey by Sir Thomas Chaloner, one of the best Latin writers of the reign of Elizabeth, the original of which is preserved in the Bodleian Library. It is contained in the collection called the Illustrium, Jan. II. 68. p. 33.
Lady Jane Grey’s tragic fate has been several times dramatised:—John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, a tragedy, by Scriptor Ignotus. London, 1686. Lady Jane Grey, by J. W. Ross, 1882.
Independently of Rowe’s tragedy, Lady Jane Grey, there is the German tragedy of Von Sommer, entitled Johanna Grey; and Jane Grey, an opera-epilogue, acted 25th February, 1723, for the benefit of Mrs. Sterling at Dublin.
The literary works attributed to Lady Jane Grey are:—
1. Four Latin epistles—three to Bullinger, and one to Lady Katherine Grey. The originals of the first three are preserved at Zurich, the other is in the King’s Library, British Museum.
2. Her conference with Feckenham (probably apocryphal), although quoted by such early writers as Foxe and Florio.
3. A letter to Harding (doubtful).
4. A prayer for her own use in prison.
5. Four Latin verses scratched on her prison walls with a pin. These will be found on p. 336.
6. Her speech on the scaffold.
7. The Complaint of a Sinner.
8. The Duty of a Christian.
9. The annotations in the famous prayer-book.
10. A fragment of a letter has been recently found, and is printed in volume vii of the State Papers; Edward VI. Domestic Series. Addenda.
Hollingshead and Sir Richard Baker state “that she hath wrotten other things,” but they do not tell us where they are to be found. Several of her letters, notably the one to Sudeley and the famous letter to Queen Mary, are not extant in her own handwriting.
Lady Jane’s fine autograph signature figures on a number of contemporary documents. It is nothing like so elaborate as that of Elizabeth, but it is easy to see that the two Princesses received lessons in Italian caligraphy from the same teacher, probably Castiglione.