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| In 1539, King Henry VIII sent his court artist, Hans Holbein, to the Duchy of Cleves to create portraits of the two sisters of the Duke. Since Anne was considered to be the more favored of the two, her portrait was the one sent to Henry, who fell in love with it. It now resides at the Musee de Loure, in Paris. Holbein also painted the other sister, Amelia. The whereabouts of her portrait is unknown. However, there is this one sketch. Labled as "Anne of Cleve", it really doesn't look much like the portrait at the Louvre. Could this possibly be Amelia, whose likeness is lost to us? Let us compare and contrast the two pictures. Now, please bear in mind, these ladies are sisters, so some resemblence is to be expected! How many of us look like our siblings a little? Exactly! Royal children are no exception, either. To drive home the point a little, I am going to bring in elder sister, Sybilla. Since her portrait is authenticated to be her, it is essential to have her join in. |
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| The portraits..... |
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| At first glance, the sisters look quite different. Anne has a fuller, more round, face with soft features. Amelia and Sybilla have thinner, more oval, faces with harder features. Amelia and Sybilla's chins are also more prominent, yet Sybilla's is not as long as Amelia's.. The eyes of all three are basically the same. |
| Anne |
| Amelia?? |
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| Looking at the eyes of the both of them, there are few differences. Amelia, possibly, has rounder eyes than her sisters Anne and Amelia both have eyes that are more heavily lidded.. Anne's appear to be set closer together. Sybilla's appear to be set wider than her sisters's. |
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| Here is a closer look at the noses, mouths, and chins. It appears that Anne and Amelia have the same nose. Sybilla's nose seens to be leaner more pointy. Amelia has a wider mouth. All lips look about the same fullness. Amelia has a longer, more prominent chin. Amelia has sharper cheekbones than Anne. Sybilla has Amelia's cheekbones, but Anne's smaller chin. However, Sybilla's chin is more pointy, like Amelia's. |
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| Sybilla |
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| Here is a look at another portrait of Anne, side-by-side with Sybilla. I am using this one since the angles of the face are similar (though I had to flip Anne over) The sisters do resemble eachother strongly in the nose and chin, though the eyes are a little different. |
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| In Conclusion... |
| Could the sketch in question actually be the long-lost likeness of Amelia of Cleves? We'll never know. Comparing the portraits of the three sisters against one another, it can be conceded that they are indeed two different people. I feel, based on these observations, that the sketch could very well be of Amelia. |
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