Conservation of the portrait of Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn by Unknown artist, National Portrait Gallery

Back in February of this year I launched the ‘Save Anne Boleyn’s Portait‘ page on Facebook to try and raise awareness of the urgent conservation work needed on Anne Boleyn’s iconic portrait.

I had already donated to the cause but felt as though I wanted to do more. A friend of mine, the talented author Wendy J. Dunn, suggested I launch an online campaign and was amongst my first supporters.

Within a few weeks other members of the online Tudor community had joined and pledged to help promote the cause and raise awareness of the funds required to conserve Anne’s portrait.

Alison Weir and Natalie Dormer both endorsed the page and offered lovely words of encouragement.

Sarah Bryson from Anne Boleyn: From Queen to History deserves a special mention, as she helped me admin the page and showed her support and enthusiasm from the beginning.

It brings me great joy to announce that £4,000 has been raised for the conservation of the portrait of Anne Boleyn! We can all breathe a sigh of relief and be confident in the knowledge that this iconic portrait will grace the walls of the Gallery for many future generations to enjoy.

Thank you to everyone that donated or helped spread the word – a little of Anne’s portrait belongs to us all!

I will endeavour to keep you up to date with the conservation work taking place over the forthcoming months so make sure you have joined us here.

Read the official announcement here.

It’s finally time to take the champagne off ice…