Yesterday I’ve been to the zoo with my family and we saw a curious little creature called marmoset. Marmoset is a small tropical American monkey with a silky coat and a long tail. I remembered that at least two Tudor personages were painted with this funny-looking creature so I’ve decided to post these portraits together with some photos of the charming marmosets.
Henry VIII received a marmoset as a Christmas present in 1539 and his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, was painted with this animal in the late 1520s. Henry VIII’s elder sister, Margaret Tudor, was also painted with a marmoset sitting on her hands. Not everyone was into marmosets, however. When Lady Honor Lisle wanted to present Anne Boleyn with a pet monkey, she was informed that Anne “loveth no such beasts nor can scant abide the sight of them”.
Sources:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/64629/9-bizarre-objects-owned-henry-viii
Alison Weir, Henry VIII: King and Court, 2011.
Joanna Denny, Anne Boleyn, 2010.
