Editing Anne Boleyn (section)

==Appearance and portraits==
[[File:Anne boleyn.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|Copy from a lost original at [[National Portrait Gallery, London]]]]

Anne's appearance has been much discussed by historians, as all of her portraits were destroyed following an order by Henry VIII, who wanted to erase her from history.<ref>{{Cite web|date=February 20, 2015|title=El misterioso rostro de Ana Bolena|trans-title=The Mysterious Face Of Anne Boleyn|language=es|url=https://www.elmundo.es/la-aventura-de-la-historia/2015/02/16/54e1d23bca4741bf298b4575.html|website=[[El Mundo (Spain)|El Mundo]]|access-date=October 10, 2022}}</ref> Many surviving depictions of her may be copies of a lost original that apparently existed as late as 1773. One of the few contemporary likenesses of Anne was captured on a medal referred to as "The Moost Happi Medal" which was struck in 1536, probably to celebrate her pregnancy which occurred around that time.<ref name="Ian Sample">{{Cite news|last=Sample|first=Ian|date=February 15, 2015|title=Possible Anne Boleyn portrait found using facial recognition software|url=https://theguardian.com/science/2015/feb/16/anne-boleyn-portrait-found-using-facial-recognition-software|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=October 10, 2022}}</ref> The other possible portrait of Anne is the [[Chequers Ring]], a secret locket ring that her daughter Elizabeth I possessed and was taken from one of her fingers at her death in 1603.<ref>{{Cite web|author=Maev Kennedy|date=July 26, 2002|title=Ring that could hold clue to Elizabeth I|url=https://theguardian.com/uk/2002/jul/26/humanities.monarchy|website=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=October 10, 2022}}</ref> 
 
[[File:Anne Boleyn? the Nidd Hall portrait.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|Nidd Hall Portrait currently unidentified]]
 
Another possible portrait of Anne was discovered in 2015 painted by artist Nidd Hall. Some scholars believe that it portrays Anne because it resembles the 1536 medal more than any other depiction. However, others believe that it is actually a portrait of her successor [[Jane Seymour]].<ref name="Ian Sample"/>

===Holbein sketches===
[[File:A Lady, called Anne Boleyn, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|A sketch by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]], depicting Anne Boleyn]]
[[File:Anne Boleyn by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|Sketch headed with Anne's name]]
 
[[Hans Holbein the Younger]] originally painted Anne's portrait and also sketched her during her lifetime. There are two surviving sketches that have been identified to be of Anne, by historians and people who knew her. Most scholars believe that Anne cannot be one of the two, as the portrayals do not look similar to each other, whilst others think that they do show the same woman but in one sketch she is pregnant, whilst in the other she is not.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Susan Foister|date=2006|title=Holbein in England, London: Tate: 2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LABrQgAACAAJ|page=58|publisher=Harry N. Abrams |isbn=978-1854376459 }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Ives|2004|pp=42–44}}.</ref>

She was considered{{By whom|date=March 2022}} brilliant, charming, driven, elegant, forthright and graceful, with a keen wit and a lively, opinionated and passionate personality. Anne was depicted as "sweet and cheerful" in her youth and enjoyed cards and dice games, drinking wine, [[French cuisine]], flirting, gambling, gossiping and good jokes. She was fond of archery, falconry, hunting and the occasional game of bowls. She also had a sharp tongue and a terrible temper.<ref>Weir, p. 47.</ref>
 
Anne exerted a powerful charm on those who met her, though opinions differed on her attractiveness. The Venetian diarist [[Marino Sanuto the Younger]], who saw Anne when Henry VIII met Francis I at [[Calais]] in October 1532, described her as "not one of the handsomest women in the world; she is of middling stature, swarthy complexion, long neck, wide mouth, bosom not much raised&nbsp;... eyes, which are black and beautiful".<ref>{{harvnb|Strong|1969|p=6}}.</ref> Simon Grynée wrote to [[Martin Bucer]] in September 1531 that Anne was "young, good-looking, of a rather dark complexion". [[Lancelot de Carle]] called her "beautiful with an elegant figure", and a Venetian in Paris in 1528 also reported that she was said to be beautiful.<ref>{{harvnb|Ives|2004|p=20}}.</ref>
 
The most influential description of Anne,<ref>Warnicke, p. 243.</ref> but also the least reliable, was written by the Catholic propagandist and polemicist Nicholas Sanders in 1586, half a century after Anne's death: 
{{blockquote|Anne Boleyn was rather tall of stature, with black hair, and an oval face of a sallow complexion, as if troubled with [[jaundice]]. It is said she had a projecting tooth under the upper lip, and on her right hand six fingers. There was a large [[Trichilemmal cyst|wen]] under her chin, and therefore to hide its ugliness she wore a high dress covering her throat&nbsp;... She was handsome to look at, with a pretty mouth.<ref>{{harvnb|Strong|1969|p=6}}; {{harvnb|Ives|2004|p=39}}.</ref>}}
 
As Sander held Anne responsible for Henry VIII's rejection of the Catholic Church he was keen to demonise her. Sanders description contributed to what Ives calls the "monster legend" of Anne Boleyn.<ref>{{harvnb|Ives|2004|p=39}}.</ref> Though his details were fictitious, they have formed the basis for references to Anne's appearance even in some modern textbooks.<ref>Warnicke, p. 247.</ref>