Susannah Hornebolt

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Susanna Hornebolt (1503–c.1554), also known as Susannah Horenbout, was a Flemish artist who became the first known female painter in England and at the Tudor court. She learned to paint with her father, Gerard Hornebolt, and was the sister of Lucas Horenbout. She gained European fame in 1521 when the artist Albrecht Dürer bought one of her illuminated works, The Savior.

The Hornebolt family moved to England in the early 1520s, and the surname was anglicised to Hornebolt by 1534. Susanna worked as an illuminator and miniature painter and became a gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber for Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, and Catherine Parr, likely serving Henry VIII’s court.

Her first marriage was to John Parker (c. 1493–1537), a royal official; they had no children. After Parker’s death she married John Gilman (c. 1503–1558) in 1539. They had children, including Henry Gilman (1540–1593), whose godfather was Henry VIII, and a daughter Anne (born around 1541–1542). Susanna accompanied Anne of Cleves to England for her marriage to Henry VIII in 1540; the king helped fund her wardrobe for the trip.

Susanna continued to work in the households of Henry VIII’s wives and may have served Catherine Parr. She died in the 1550s, around 1554. Her work was admired by contemporaries such as Albrecht Dürer, Guicciardini, and Vasari, and she is associated with the Ghent-Bruges school of manuscript illumination. Her life has inspired historical fiction, including novels by Michelle Diener.