# The Courtship of Anne Boleyn

- By: Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze (born Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany 1816-died Washington, DC 1868)
- Date: 1846
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Classification: Paintings
- Dimensions: 28 1/2 x 40 1/8 in. (72.4 x 101.8 cm)
- Credit line: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase
- Museum: [Smithsonian Institution](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=14565)
- Rights: [CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/03d92f689b290c1f712c09832d626b96.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This painting shows King Henry VIII of England and his mistress, Anne Boleyn. Henry fell in love with Anne, Queen Catherine’s lady-in-waiting, and divorced his Spanish wife so that he could marry her. To the left of Henry and Anne, the ambassador from Spain expresses his disgust as he watches the king carry out his affair in public. Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze was a supporter of the American and German revolutions and may have painted King Henry’s infamous betrayal to show his distaste for royalty.