Urgent conservation work needed on the NPG’s Portrait of Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn by Unknown artist, National Portrait Gallery

You may have heard through the Tudor grapevine that the National Portrait Gallery’s portrait of Anne Boleyn is in urgent need of conservation work. Here is what the NPG have said,

“It is in a particularly vulnerable and unstable condition as a result of structural problems with the wooden panel.  Vertical cracking has occurred across the picture causing minor paint loss where the wood has split … We need to act now as the damage is being caused by the long term effects of an unsuitable cradle (an applied wooden panel support) which must be removed. Therefore this important and much loved painting needs urgent conservation treatment to ensure it can be put back on public display.”

The gallery hopes to raise 4000 Pounds for conservation work on the picture and I will of course be donating. This is one of the most important portraits of Anne Boleyn that we have and I was lucky enough to enjoy it in person during my visit to the NPG in 2009. I hope that my children and many other future generations will be able to see it in the ‘flesh’ for years to come.

If you would like to contribute to this very important project click here. Read the NPG’s post here.

Let’s work together to save Anne Boleyn!