SOMER, Paulus van
(b. ca. 1576, Antwerpen, d. 1621, London)

Anne of Denmark

1617
Oil on canvas, 266 x 209 cm
Royal Collection, Hampton Court Palace

Anne of Denmark stands facing half to the right, wearing a green riding habit and a tall-crowned hat with red plumes. She restrains five greyhounds on a leash in her left hand and rests her right hand on her hip. The greyhounds have her initials, AR, on their collars. Her green low-cut bodice has curved sleeves in the fashionable Spanish style, one of which is worn hanging with the buttons undone. Her bodice is trimmed with multiple layers of lace at the cuffs and neckline and she wears practical leather riding gloves. A black groom wearing scarlet and gold livery holds her horse to the left.

Queen Anne is depicted standing in the grounds of Oatlands House, with the palace visible in the distance to the right. An owl, symbol of wisdom, perches on a tree above. A scroll inscribed LA MIA GRANDEZZA DAL ECCELSO floats above the Queen's head. This motto ('My greatness is from on high') was a favourite with the Queen.

Anne is portrayed as Diana, a patron of the arts and divinely inspired thinker. However, the grandeur of the conception is barely matched by its somewhat arid, prosaic style; the sitter is endowed with the plump features of a self-satisfied Antwerp bourgeois. Nevertheless, it is a splendid costume piece.