This lovely bust (see below) at Hever Castle is not actually the young Anne Boleyn as I’ve often thought. So I rang Hever Castle and spoke to one of the conservators there. She was very helpful and explained that the bust is possibly Eleanor of Aragon, and the original in the Louvre, Paris, was made by Francesco Laurana in the 15th century. It was once thought to be Margaret of Austria, but Eleanor is the latest attribution. Several other attributions have been made, but this seems the most likely. This copy of the bust, probably late 16th/17th century, was bought by Lord Astor in 1905 from his agent in Paris, who used to scour France and Italy for interesting pieces for Astor. What a dream job to have!
Francesco Laurana, original name Francesco de la Vrana, (born c. 1430, Vrana, Dalmatia, Republic of Venice (now in Croatia) died before March 12, 1502, Avignon, France. An early Italian Renaissance sculptor and medalist, he was especially distinguished for his severely elegant portrait busts of women and as an early disseminator of the Renaissance style in France.
Laurana’s early career is obscure, the first notice of him, in 1453, being when he was paid by Alfonso V of Aragon for work on the triumphal arch of the Castel Nuovo in Naples. Between 1461 and 1466 he was at the court of René, duc d’Anjou, rival claimant to the throne of Naples. By 1468, however, Laurana was in Sicily, and he seems to have spent the remainder of his life there, at Naples, and in the south of France.
