4 x 6 inches, watercolor, gouache and gold ink, 2008



Elizabeth Wydeville was the mother of Elizabeth of York and grandmother of Henry VIII. She had married Edward IV in 1464. She had previously been married and had two sons, and with Edward gave birth to ten more children. When Edward died in 1483 her brother-in-law Richard III took the throne, placing her two sons Edward and Richard in the Tower of London, after which they were never seen again. After Richard's defeat by Henry VII in 1485, her daughter Elizabeth of York married Henry and the Tudor dynasty was begun. Elizabeth spent her last few years living in a convent and died in 1492 aged 55.
I might come back and add more to this later, these are the bare bones of her story.