NARRATOR:
From the day Henry Tudor seized power and became Henry VII, he had a thorn in his side. Related to the English royal family through illegitimate lines of descent, he’d need to secure his place on the throne in order to pass it on to his descendants. This portrait played a part in that plan.

You may be surprised that – for a royal portrait – it’s modest in size. That’s because it was designed to travel. Henry was 48 when it was painted. His wife, Elizabeth of York, had just died. He needed a new bride—one from a European dynasty, and so he sent this portrait to the Habsburgs, a lineage much more prestigious than his own. Curator Adam Eaker.

ADAM EAKER:
It was about recording the facts of physical appearance and physical health, really – when you think about this as a portrait that’s part of a marriage negotiation – showing that Henry is not sickly, he’s not elderly, he really is a viable bridegroom. Because dynasties at this period were obsessed with begetting heirs.

NARRATOR:
But the portrait had to convey more than just a likeness: it had to establish his status and credentials. Notice the red rose he holds – the symbol of his royal Lancastrian ancestors. And the gold chain, with its sheep’s fleece hanging from the center: this symbol proclaims Henry as a member of a highly exclusive European order of chivalry, the Order of the Golden Fleece. So, the portrait served as a way of sending a long-distance message.

ADAM EAKER:
That he’s worthy, that he’s a peer, he’s a European monarch whose claim to the throne is secure, and also in a certain sense that he’s attractive. Maybe not physically the most dashing or prepossessing person, but that he’s wealthy, and that he also has a certain standing.