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KristinaGehrmann — TheExecution of Lady Jane Grey
Published: 2011-09-26 13:41:36 +0000 UTC; Views: 122539; Favourites: 2068; Downloads: 42
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Description
In the Tudor era (and probably in the Middle Ages too) it was customary for the executioner to ask the condemned's forgiveness. It was supposed to show that he held no malice towards the victim; that he was only an extension of the law doing his job. By granting forgiveness the condemned also had a chance of showing magnanimity in the face of death, thus leaving a good impression on the spectators.Lady Jane Grey forgave her executioner, as did Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard before her.
Who was Lady Jane Grey? She was designated queen by young king Edward Seymour (the son and successor of Henry VIII, as you remember).
But when he died in 1553, she managed to be queen for only about 2 weeks, because Henry's daughter Mary Tudor had many supporters and so became queen the same year.
The 17 year old Lady Jane Grey, though she didn't plot against Queen Mary herself, became a symbol of resistance and Protestantism and so became dangerous to the Catholic politics of Mary. Queen Mary had her executed for "high treason" in 1554.
You can read the entire story on Wikipedia here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Jan…
Even today historians aren't sure if she had a legitimate claim to the throne or not, so she's usually not included in a line-up of English regents.
Hmm. That's quite a lot of death scenes in my portfolio so far. Perhaps I should paint a birth some time...! Nevermind. The next painting, of course, is going to feature Mary Tudor ("the Catholic" or "Bloody Mary" depending on whose side you're on).
Photoshop and Wacom tablet as always, took about 30 hours or so. (Social life? What's that? XD)
Wood and brick wall textures snatched from cgtextures.com .
Screaming guy referenced from alastock - alastock.deviantart.com/art/sc…
Lady-in-waiting referenced from lockstock - lockstock.deviantart.com/art/T…
Special thanks to the folks on Conceptart.org for kicking my butt
WIP can be seen here: img196.imageshack.us/img196/34…
© Kristina Gehrmann
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Comments: 257
Stunning, I love it! The woman shouting at her at the bottom is incredible.
The guy with the flag thing kinda looks like he needs to pee though... Not really a criticism, it's just what I thought when I saw him.
Looking forward to Mary!
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Great work...you caught the atmosphere of the Middle Ages ... purely my taste ...
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Ooh, I saw this in its earlier stages on ConceptArt.org. Your stuff reminds me less of digital art and more of the great oil paintings from the 1700 - 1800's. I'm kinda jealous.
Great stuff.
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There was a lot of head tumbling around those days. @_@ That aside, your art is wonderful.
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There was! X_X Thank you
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Very beautiful. I always pitied Jane Grey - she died the pawn of more powerful men.
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Nicely done. Horrible history. I've got a print somewhere of the rendition of this same scene by Paul Delaroche, and the original of that is pretty stunning.
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I love the painting by Delaroche 
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This is your best piece, in my opinion. Brilliant!
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Poor Jane Grey she was such a tragic young figure. Absolutely a stunning piece of work. Can't wait for then next one.
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That's quite a tragic story. :c Nonetheless, this a very beautiful painting.
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for me your best work ever, very complex but it works, you captured the "rembrandt" quality of light, congrats
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Beautiful work miss - I'm very glad to see somebody tackling some more historical based work. Very inspirational.
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Ich weiß du bist sehr beschäftigt, aber ich wollte dir trotzdem sagen, wie großartig ich deine neuen Bilder finde.
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Bloody hell, how can I fav and love this a thouand times over?!
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Great work, outstanding details and historically correct. Remarkable the facial expressions... very very impressive and inspiring. Congratulations!
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Very epic ^^,
Have some of what you want,
because you always don't have much
of what you need
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I thought only Anne Boleyn was beheaded with a sword...
But this is really really beautiful and detailed even if the subject matter is a bit gruesome.
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Love this series. The Tudors has to be one of the most interesting (albeit popular and possibly slightly overdone periods in British History). I never get tired of it. Jane's story is so sad - I feel that she was a pawn in a bigger game. Poor girl.
Wonderful piece - you've capture the emotion so beautifully!
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That's an interesting moment to pick out of all the possible parts of a Tudor-era execution scene. It's not what I would expect people to do, but I think there is a certain magnaminous quality to it, like you're describing.
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Really good work.
Actually Lady Jane Grey was a Tudor, she was the granddaughter of Henry VIII sister, Mary. She wasn't in any way a member of the Seymour family. She became queen because her husbands father, the Duke of Northumberland (Regent to the King, Edward VI, who was styled Edward Tudor, never Edward Seymour) wanted to prevent a catholic - Mary Tudor - from taking the throne.
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