Christina stands, almost the size of life, facing the spectator, dressed in “mourning aparel after the manner of Italy”--a black satin gown, and over it a long black cloak lined with yellow sable. A black hood covers her hair and part of her forehead, and a ruby ring is her only ornament. You cannot call her very beautiful, but her expression is fascinating in the highest degree. It is painted with the utmost simplicity and directness, and yet is stamped with real grandeur of style in every delicate stroke of the brush. Her slender form (“She is of taller stature than either of us,” wrote the Ambassadors Wriothesley and Vaughan) is admirably rendered, and Holbein, in the spirit of a true artist, has chosen to depict her in all the severity of her widow’s weeds, rather than in the bravery of the Brussels court lady, thus giving an added effect to her sweet childish countenance, which is modelled in the most masterly fashion. Her dark eyes, from under fair eyebrows, seem to admit one to her most secret thoughts, and the red lips are full of expression. The flesh tints are unusually transparent, and a faint rosy glow of health just flushes her cheeks. “She is not so white as the late Queen,” says Hutton, “but she hath a singular good countenance, and when she chanceth to smile there appeareth two pits in her cheeks and one in her chin, the which becomith her excellently well. She is higher than the Regent, a goodly personage of body and competent of beauty, of favour excellent, soft of speech, and very gentle in countenance.” It is an exquisite portrait, and one of the most precious in the country. For some reason, probably the Papal excommunication of Henry, the Emperor suddenly became hostile to this alliance, and the negotiations were broken off. She herself seems to have been not unwilling to become an English Queen. Sir Thomas Wyatt reported that she was somewhat flighty, but Hutton, on the other hand, mentions “her honest countenance, and the few words she wisely spoke.” The popular tradition runs that she sent a respectfully sarcastic refusal to Henry, saying that “she had but one head; if she had two, one of them should be at His Majesty’s service.” She married Francis, Duke of Lorraine and Bar, in 1541. * * * * * One of the best of Holbein’s portraits of English commoners is that of _Robert Cheseman_ in the Hague Gallery, which was formerly in the royal collections of England. With his usual directness and faultless mastery of handling, he has given us here another example of exact portraiture, illuminated by a deep insight into [Illustration: _Hanfstängl photo._ [_The Hague._ ROBERT CHESEMAN WITH HIS FALCON.]