• Infrared analysis of a 16th-century portrait of Anne Boleyn uncovered a deliberate reworking of the doomed queen’s hands.
• The clear depiction of five fingers on each hand is believed to counter Elizabethan-era rumors that Anne was a witch with physical deformities.
• Tree-ring dating dates the portrait to 1583, making it the earliest scientifically dated panel portrait of Anne Boleyn.

New analysis of an Anne Boleyn portrait has revealed a subtle yet striking defense of the doomed queen: a long-hidden detail that counters damaging claims that she was a witch.

The 16th-century portrait held by Hever Castle in the U.K. is immediately familiar. Anne is shown in a black dress with a lace trim, wearing a dark French hood and a pearl necklace with a B-shaped pendant. These so-called “B” portraits were standardized compositions, created decades after Anne’s execution, during the reign of her daughter Queen Elizabeth I. 

But unlike those versions, the Hever image holds a key difference: Anne is depicted holding a red rose in her hands. The recent scientific probe, carried out in partnership with Hamilton Kerr Institute, found this to be a deliberate reworking. Using infrared reflectography, researchers located a triangular form under Anne’s right arm, which they believe record the moment the artist chose to render the queen’s hands, right down to her last finger.

Infrared imaging of the Anne Boleyn “Rose” portrait. Photo courtesy of Hever Castle.

And why? At the time the portrait was created, Anne was the target of a smear campaign spearheaded by Catholic priest Nicholas Sander. In a 1585 polemic, Sander, who was intent on deposing Elizabeth I, portrayed Anne as a witch who had seduced Henry VIII away from the Catholic Church. Her monstrous nature, he wrote, was visible in her supposed deformities, including a goiter and a sixth finger.

The Hever’s “Rose” portrait, then, was probably intended to counter this slander—an observation first surfaced by historian Helene Harrison in her 2025 book, The Many Faces of Anne Boleyn.

“The decision to show Anne’s hands should be understood as intentional,” Owen Emmerson, an assistant curator at Hever, said in a statement. “By clearly displaying five digits on each hand, the portrait acts as a visual rebuttal to hostile rumors and as a defense of Anne Boleyn—and, by extension, of her daughter Elizabeth’s legitimacy.”

Detail of the triangular form on the Anne Boleyn “Rose” portrait. Photo courtesy of Hever Castle.

The castle’s deputy curator and historian, Kate McCaffrey, posited that Elizabeth I herself could have had a hand in commissioning the portrait. “It certainly seems too much of a coincidence for it not to be in response to rumors that were circulating at that time,” she told the Guardian.

As part of the latest analysis, tree-ring dating was also undertaken on the canvas’s oak panel. It pinpointed the portrait to 1583, amid Elizabeth I’s reign, making it the earliest scientifically dated panel portrait of Anne Boleyn on record.

The Anne Boleyn “Rose” portrait undergoing scanning. Photo courtesy of Hever Castle.

These new revelations will be included in Hever Castle’s forthcoming exhibition “Capturing a Queen: The Image of Anne Boleyn,” set to gather some 30 Anne Boleyn portraits in a bid to unpack how politics and power shaped her perception. Earlier this month, the project found that the famed posthumous portrait of Anne Boleyn could have been based on the likeness of Elizabeth I. 

“Very few portraits of Anne Boleyn have undergone this level of scientific study,” Emmerson added of the scientific research. “By combining technical analysis with historical context, this exhibition brings us closer to seeing Anne as her contemporaries might have done—not as a myth, but as a real woman.”