Levina Teerlinc

Miniature portrait, possibly of Levina Teerlinc, painted by Nicholas Hilliard in 1572, when the lady in the picture was 52 years of age. Buccleuch Collection Levina Teerlinc (1510s – 23 June 1576) was a Flemish Renaissance miniaturist who served as a painter to the English court of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I. She was the most important miniaturist at the English court between Hans Holbein the Younger and Nicholas Hilliard. Her father, Simon Bening, was a renowned book illuminator and miniature painter of the Ghent-Bruges school and probably trained her as a manuscript painter. She may have worked in her father's workshop before her marriage.

Biography

Teerlinc was born in Bruges, Flanders (which is now a part of Belgium) in the 1510s, one of five daughters of renowned miniaturist Simon Bening and granddaughter of Catherine van der Goes (closely related to Hugo van der Goes) and Alexander Bening. After marrying George Teerlinc of Blanckenberge in 1545, Teerlinc left for England, and is documented there by 1546, when she became court painter to the Tudor court, serving Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I. She received an annual salary of £40 from 1546 until her death in 1576, as granted by Henry VIII which was more than was provided to Holbein.

Levina died before she was able to acquire her last £10, Queen Elizabeth was able to give this to her husband as a "gift". It is thought to have been rewarding the Teerlincs for their loyalty to her during the reign of Mary. She was the only female painter in the court of Henry VIII, although Catherine Parr was said to have employed three women miniature painters and these were Susannah Hornebolt, Levina Teerlinc and Margaret Holsewyther.

In English records her name was recorded in a variety of spellings, including in 1552 "Mrs Sevin Tilney, paintrix". Queen Mary gave her a New Year's day gift of a gilt silver salt in 1556 and she gave the queen a small picture of the Trinity. In 1559 Teerlinc was appointed tutor in painting to the King's daughter at the Spanish Court.

Reputation Art historian Louisa Woodville writes: Teerlinc's contemporaries were impressed by her work. The sixteenth-century Florentine historian Lodovico Guicciardini heralds Teerlinc as the best of the women painters practicing at the time. Seventy-five years later, Flemish historian Antonius Sanderus assured his readers that she was "very capable in the two specialties of art."

Works Portrait of Elizabeth I attributed to Levina Teerlinc, c. 1560–1565. The Royal Collection. The likeness the sitter bears to those in miniatures of Katherine Grey, Countess of Hertford, has led to many suggestions that Lady Katherine Grey may be the sitter instead

No surviving works have been confirmed as Teerlinc's. Yet she was one of the most well-documented artists at court in miniature painting, providing various portraits of Elizabeth I in the years 1559, 1562, 1563, 1564, 1567 ("a full-length portrait"), 1568 ("with Knights of the Order"), 1575 ("with other personages"), and 1576.

Attributing Teerlinc's works is challenging because she did not always sign them. However, there are a few existing paintings that are suspected to be Teerlinc's due to the fact she was the only active miniaturist of prominence in English court between Hans Holbein the Younger in 1543 and Nicholas Hilliard in the 1570s. Some scholars also speculate that many of the miniatures were lost in the fire at Whitehall. Possible portrait miniature of Amy Robsart on the occasion of her wedding, 1550, by Levina Teerlinc. In the Yale Center for British Art

Partial list of works Victoria and Albert Museum Levina Teerlinc, Portrait of Lady Katherine Grey, ca. 1555–1560, Museum no. P.10-1979 Levina Teerlinc, Portrait of a Young Woman, 1566, Museum no. P.21-1954 Levina Teerlinc, Portrait of Mary Dudley, Lady Sidney, ca.1575, Museum no. E.1170-1988

Other Levina Teerlinc?, Portrait of Queen Mary I, Duke of Buccleuch's collection Levina Teerlinc?, Portrait of a Young Woman, Royal Collection, Windsor Castle Levina Teerlinc?, Portrait of Elizabeth I in State Robes, Welbeck Abbey collection

Gallery

Footnotes