Collections Online

In this Tudor portrait, Katheryn of Berain clutches a small box – perhaps a casket or a prayer-book - and solemnly caresses a human skull. It was painted in 1568 in the Netherlands. Although not signed, it is believed to be painted by Adriaen van Cronenburgh. Katheryn is wearing a long dress which is a deep velvety black with elaborate gold embroidered sleeves. Black was the most expensive dye you could buy in the 16th century. She also has a long delicate gold necklace that reaches down to her chest; and a heavy gold link chain around her waist which she lifts in her right hand. Her hair is scraped back and covered by a gold-trimmed head-dress, as was customary for married women at the time. Her elaborate costume, pale skin and plucked brows were highly fashionable, and the prayer-book confirms her piety. To contemporary eyes, it might look as though she’s in mourning but the portrait was painted just after her second marriage to Sir Richard Clough, royal agent to Queen Elizabeth I. Catrin married four times during her life and had so many children and grandchildren that she is known today as Mam Cymru (Mother of Wales). Skulls were widely used in portraits of this time. They acted as mememto mori devices – a reminder that death comes to us all. But there’s another explanation for the skull which you may prefer. According to folklore, Catrin had a stream of lovers and when she tired of them she would murder them and bury their bodies in the orchard at Berain!