A five-year research project is to culminate in the biggest exhibition of portraits of Tudor kings and queens.
Nearly all the National Portrait Gallery’s images of the monarchs will go on show together for the first time, along with special loans.
Investigations revealed information that changes our understanding of the works and their subjects.
The pale-faced “Darnley portrait” of Elizabeth I has been proved misleading as at this period, the mid-1570s, it would have been finished with a glaze giving her a healthy glow. Only later in life did she use white arsenic-based make-up.
Expert Dr Charlotte Bolland said: “She would have appeared rosy-cheeked and healthy but that has been lost through fading and abrasion so now she has this ghostly appearance.”
X-rays also showed that a portrait of Edward VI was under way at the time his father, Henry VIII, died.
The position of a foot was adapted slightly so that the prince’s stance echoed those of his father — and then amended again when it looked “ridiculous”.
The gallery’s oldest portrait, of Henry VII, will be displayed with a Book of Hours inscribed by him to his daughter.
The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered will run at the National Portrait Gallery from September 11 to March 1, 2015, admission free.
