From Young and Handsome to Old and Tyrannical: History & Facial Reconstructions | Royalty Now

hello everyone and welcome to royalty now where we bring you face to face with figures from the past King Henry VII is one of the most well-known figures in English History famous for his Six Wives but he's also known for his illustrious portraiture today we'll dive into Henry's appearance and reveal some lifelike Recreations at the end so let's go ahead and get started Prince Henry of England was never intended to be the king he was born in 1491 the second son of King Henry iith and Elizabeth of York we may even have one early Glimpse at the face of a young Henry this kind of creepy terracotta bust of a smiling 7-year-old child is reportedly an image of Henry the coloring certainly matches with his red gold hair and fair complexion the gift of his mother Elizabeth vork we can also see similarities in the small eyes plump cheeks and button nose that appear later on portraits of the king while the identification of this bust is tenuous it was only a few years after this image was made that Henry learned he would someday be king at just the age of 10 Henry's older brother Arthur died thrusting all of his duties and unfulfilled potential onto the Young Prince our first confirmed look at Henry is this portrait made in 1509 of the 18-year-old Prince it was painted the same year as his wedding to Katherine of Aragon but it looks distinctly different from images of Henry later in his life this could be because of the absence of propaganda that we see later in Henry's images how he purposely makes himself look large and grandiose in later portraits or it could be because this early tutor artist wasn't as skilled at capturing Henry's appearance either way nearly all contemporary descriptions of a young King Henry are incredibly favorable by the summer of 1509 9 Henry was crowned the king of England in the beginning of his Reign he was seen as England's new Renaissance ruler virtuous handsome and brimming with new ideas for education and religious reforms his court was bright and Loud filled with dancing jousting and Court pageants Venetian Ambassador Justinian wrote in 1515 that Henry was most excellent in his personal endowments and likewise gifted with mental accomplishment ments Henry could speak multiple languages play numerous instruments even writing his own music at 23 years old Henry was around 62 and 200 lb with a muscular frame and a broad chest keeping him in good shape was his love of everything sport hunting jousting archery and even tennis with one Ambassador stating that King Henry was the prettiest thing in the world to see play and another saying that he was much handsomer than any other Sovereign in Christendom for much of his life Henry wore his bright auburn hair combed straight and short in the French fashion and wore a short beard that one Observer described as looking like gold his wardrobe was also Sumptuous adding to his overall Splendor Henry loved clothes and hardly ever wore the same garment twice the Fabrics dyes and jewels used to make them were internationally source and imported just for him unfortunately we don't have many portraits of Henry from this prime time in his life with the exception of this version by an unknown artist painted in 1520 as a pair with his wife Catherine just like the version of Henry at 18 this portrait lacks realism and it looks cartoonish one reason for this is that it may be what's known as a pattern portrait a pattern portrait is a set likeness of the Monarch that is shared between artist Studios but since artists are not all equally skilled each time the likeness is shared and copied it ends up losing something of the original like playing a game of telephone with Henry's face therefore we can't really rely on any of these to be a true likeness of the king it's around the 1530s that we get the most lifelike portraits of Henry showing his small blue eyes long slightly hooked nose small mouth and round face this portrait is one of my favorites Henry would be about 40 years old here in 1533 the king would become acquainted with a German artist named Hans Hine and he made him his court painter possibly at the urging of his new wife Anne bin Hine was immensely more talented than any other artist in England with some of his paintings looking more like photographs than portraits the king would sit for Hine in 1536 giving us a much more more realistic look at Henry than any other portraits made of him until this point sadly one of the most accurate and renowned portraits of King Henry by Hine has been lost to history we only know of its existence through Preparatory sketches and copies made by other artists the massive life-size portrait which was a family image depicting Henry his parents and his wife at the time Jane Seymour burned down with whiteall Palace in 1698 it's thought that this image was the Genesis of the classic propagandistic portrait of Henry VII where he stands tall and imposing facing the viewer Square on in his huge cloak and obvious Cod piece in reality Henry was beginning to lose his intimidation Factor although he stood 6'2 in tall very large for the time in 1536 Henry had suffered severe injuries in a jousting accident which would leave him unconscious for multiple hours and leave him with a leg wound that would never really heal still continuing to eat and drink like he used to with little to no activity Henry soon gained a massive amount of weight by his 50s he was almost 400 lb he was also nearly bald carefully hiding his head under hats in every portrait suits of armor from 1544 show his size and we can see the evolution of his suits of armor and his measurements through throughout his life in this fascinating image after this accident we have no more life portraits of Henry VII just copies of the Lost Originals turned out to the people of England as propaganda reminders of their once beloved King so let's take a look at some Recreations of Henry from his handsome youth to his later years for the young version I'm using the features of the lifelike 1530s images and aging them down slightly so that we can get an image of Henry in his prime so let's take a look now [Music] you [Music] [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] h [Music]

Channel: Royalty Now Studios

Views: 206,666

Keywords: real face of, what historical figures would look like, true face of, true faces of, real faces of historical figures, true faces of historical figures, what historical figures would look like today, royalty now, roylaty now, history documentary, history, biography, facts, henry viii, henry viii real face, henry viii modern, tudors real faces, tudors modern, modern historical figures, king henry viii face, king henry viii real face, hans holbein, tudor history, tudors

Id: x1Tq09AP1LQ

Length: 10min 17sec (617 seconds)

Published: Fri May 24 2024