Susanna Horenbout: Forgotten Female Artist at the Tudor Court

Susanna Horenbout (1503–c. 1554) was a member of a Flemish family of painters, miniaturists, and manuscript illuminators. Gerard Horenbout, Susanna’s father, worked as a painter in Ghent from at least 1487 and then became a painter at the cosmopolitan court of Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands. The Horenbouts—Gerard, his wife Margaret, and at least two of their children, Susanna and Lucas—moved to England in the 1520s (the artist’s name was later anglicized to Susannah Hornebolt). The exact date of their arrival is not known. Gerard was mentioned as Margaret of Austria’s painter for the last time in 1521. Lucas was mentioned as a painter in Henry VIII’s household accounts in September 1525, so this is the earliest date of the Horenbouts’ activity in England.

She Was an Excellent Painter . . .

German painter Albrecht Dürer met Susanna Horenbout in Antwerp in 1521 when she was about 18 years old. He was impressed by her miniature of a Saviour, remarking that:

Italian writer Lodovico Guicciardinini praised Horenbout in his work on various famous artists, extolling her as “an excellent painter, especially in making of very small works [miniatures] beyond all belief; and most excellent in illuminating [manuscripts] so that the great King Henry VIII brought her to England with great gifts and provisions.” This, however, is written with the benefit of hindsight.

When Susana Horenbout first arrived in England, she was in her early 20s and not yet famed as a great artist. Rather, she was known to have been her father’s talented apprentice and worked with him on various new commissions before making a name for herself. She joined the household of Henry VIII’s queens as a “gentlewoman” and had ties to the King’s elder daughter, Mary.

Lady Parker

Susanna Horenbout was first mentioned in England in her mother’s commemorative lozenge-shaped funeral brass dating to 1529. By that date, she was already married to John Parker, Yeoman of the King’s Wardrobe of Robes and Keeper of the Palace of Westminster.

Among Hans Holbein the Younger’s drawings, there is a sketch of a “Lady Parker” on pale pink prepared paper. The woman from the drawing is currently labeled as Grace Parker, née Newport (1523–1538), wife of Henry Parker and daughter-in-law of the 10th Baron Morley, but it has been recently suggested that the sitter may be Suanna Horenbout Parker. Grace Parker was not prominent in court circles, withdrawing from court to raise her numerous children, whereas Susanna Horenbout was married to a prominent court official and was recorded in the royal household numerous times at the time when Hans Holbein the Younger was active. As a miniaturist and manuscript illuminator, she also had good reason to pose for Holbein.

A miniature currently preserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna has often been labeled as Susanna in the past, but there is no coat of arms or inscription that would help in identifying the sitter as Susana.

Horenbout’s Works

Until recently, it has been assumed that none of Susanna Horenbout’s works survived. This is because most miniatures from the Horenbout workshop are labeled as the works of her brother Lucas, who was named as a court painter in Henry VIII’s household accounts from September 1525 until his death in 1544. There is no record of Susanna Horenbout being a paid artist, but she was praised for her skill in creating miniatures and illuminating manuscripts. So there must have been a demand for her works.

A miniature painting of a woman long believed to be Katherine Parr, Henry VIII’s sixth wife, was recently suggested to be a depiction of the King’s daughter, Mary Tudor. Mary was disinherited in 1533 and deprived of the title of a princess, being instead titled as Lady Mary. The sitter bears no resemblance to the known contemporary depictions of Katherine Parr but resembles Lady Mary, especially when it comes to the shape of her nose. Also, the cross that the sitter wears in the miniature can be traced in the inventory of Lady Mary’s jewels.

The miniature dates to c. 1546. Gerard and Lucas Horenbout were dead at the time, and so it has been credibly suggested that this miniature was created by Susanna, making it the first work that can be attributed to her.

With the two recent discoveries—Susanna Horenbout’s drawing among Hans Holbein the Younger’s sketches and reattribution of her miniature of Mary Tudor—it can be confidently stated that Susanna Horenbout’s life and artistic contributions are undergoing significant re-evaluation, shedding new light on her legacy as an artist at the Tudor court.

Author’s bio

Sylvia Barbara Soberton is an independent researcher and author of 12 books, specializing in the history of the Tudors and the Boleyn family. She is best known for The Forgotten Tudor Women series. Sylvia’s ground-breaking paper on Anne Boleyn and the accusation of witchcraft was published in the Royal Studies Journal in 2023.