Who painted the portrait of Anne of Cleves that so impressed Henry VIII?
Henry VIII of England build a series of coastal defences and set some aside for use in the event of a Franco-German invasion. Having considered the matter, Cromwell, now Earl of Essex, suggested Anne, the 25-year-old sister of the Duke of Cleves, who was seen as an important ally in case of a Roman Catholic attack on England, for the duke fell between Lutheranism and Catholicism. Hans Holbein the Younger was dispatched to Cleves to paint a portrait of Anne for the king. Despite speculation that Holbein painted her in an overly flattering light, it is more likely that the portrait was accurate; Holbein
Anne of Cleves Henry's last wife, Catherine Parr, by 9 years. She was not the longest-lived, however, since Catherine of Aragon was 50 at the time of her death. Anne is the subject of three biographies: Julia Hamilton's "Anne of Cleves" (1972), and Mary Saaler's "Anne of Cleves: Fourth Wife of Henry VIII" (1995), and Elizabeth Norton's "Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII's Discarded Bride" (2009). Retha Warnicke has written an academic study on Anne's marriage called "The Marrying of Anne of Cleves. Royal Protocol in Early Modern England" (2000). Anne of Cleves appears as a character in many historical novels about Henry's reign.