I’ve been putting together illustrations for my book on the Woodvilles. Although most of the illustrations will be from contemporary or near-contemporary sources, no contemporary likeness of the grande dame of the family, Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford, exists. The chronicler Enguerrand de Monstrelet described her as lively (frisque), beautiful, and gracious, but otherwise there’s no guidance as to what she looked like.
With that in mind, I thought it would be neat to have a modern artist, Mark Satchwill, supply me with his own imagined portrait of Jacquetta. The only guidance I gave was that there should be some family resemblance to Elizabeth Woodville and that the drawing should portray Jacquetta as a young woman–about the time she secretly married Richard Woodville. You can see the finished product a little closer to my publication date in October, but here in the meantime is a pencil sketch:
Mark previously did a drawing of Margaret of Anjou for me, and much as I loved it, I think I love the one of Jacquetta even better! You can see some of Mark’s other work on his Facebook page, on his blog, and on his website.
Very nice!
Thanks, Karen!
She looks perfect – gorgeous and very determined! I’m really looking forward to the book; Jacquetta is one of my favourite figures from that time who doesn’t always get a lot of attention.
Thanks, Kerry!
Excellent! The horns are a little unfortunate, but that’s the fault of the times, not the illustrator. (No wonder there were accusations of witchcraft if she was walking around looking like that, right? And that’s coming from someone who actually kind of likes the gable hood :)).
I think they should bring back the horns, myself.
Wasn’t there some theological explanation for the horns? IIRC, the fact that Michelangelo’s “Moses” has horns was explained by some mis-translation of some Biblical passage, but I forgot which one.
Or maybe male fashion designers decided to make women look silly long before we think?
This is fantastic. What a great idea – thanks for bringing Jacquetta to life!
Mark did a great job, didn’t he?
He did, indeed! I like that he gave her the fashionable “rosebud” mouth:)
It’s great, isn’t it? Wait until you see the finished product!
I really like it. Quite beautiful really.
It is!
Love it! So excited for the finished product. Walked all the bookstore today looking for it..,whoops
Thanks, Nettie!
Wow my name is Jacquetta good to know this!!
I would love to red the book!!!!