Levina Teerlinc, Portrait of Katherine Grey, Countess of Hertford, c. 1555-60, 1.3” diameter, watercolor on vellum, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, Artwork in the Public Domain.
Levina Teerlinc’s Mastery of Miniatures
Levina Teerlincis credited with the rise of miniature painting of royals in the 16th century. She was born in Bruges and probably received her artistic training from her father, the well-known illuminator Simon Bening. In 1545, she and her husband moved to England where Henry VIII quickly hired her to be a court painter, paying her a higher salary than Hans Holbein the Younger who recently had passed away.
Teerlinc lived a long life, working for the Tudors for a few generations. While there are records of Teerlinc’s New Year gifts of paintings to Elizabeth I, only a handful of miniatures survive today. It is believed that she trained Nicholas Hilliard, who was to become the best-known miniaturist from the era.
