Katherine of Aragon (c.1520) by unknown artist © National Portrait Gallery, London, by permission of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church Commissioners; on loan to the National Portrait Gallery, London

CLASSICS professor emerita Mary Beard has described the syndrome well: “Roman rulers and their families were not just the subjects of their portraits, they were also viewers of them,” she writes in her best-selling history Emperor of Rome.

And at the court of Henry VIII this might help explain the doubt about the accuracy of depictions of the king’s wives. For some, it was very much out of sight, out of mind, perhaps.

The National Portrait Gallery’s Six Wives exhibition develops the theme by following the women as individuals. A book of hours, a prayer book, and even an accounts book of expenses can be seen. Jewels and more.

Anne of Cleves (1539) by Hans Holbein the Younger © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

It’s beyond portraits, taking the narrative further with an examination of how the women have been portrayed subsequently, whether with notional drawings and paintings or in popular entertainment.

So first the dramatis personae. Henry was born in 1491. First, in 1509, he married Katherine of Aragon and subsequently Anne Boleyn (in 1533), Jane Seymour (1536), Anne of Cleves (1540), Katherine Howard (1540), and Katherine Parr (1543).

Even the spellings are matters of custom and style, those in the current show and accompanying publication conforming to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and different from the current royals’ website (www.royal.uk), for example, in the case of the wife who famously “survived”.

Probably Katherine Howard (c.1540) by Hans Holbein the Younger © The Buccleuch Chattels Trust

As NPG senior curator Dr Charlotte Bolland suggests: “In this exhibition the faint surviving traces of each queen are displayed alongside the portraits that have helped to turn them into icons.”

The gallery say, Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens*, draws on “a wealth of factual and fictional material to place the spotlight on six women who helped shape a fascinating period of English history…”

Anne Boleyn (late 16th century, based on a work of c.1533-6) by unknown English artist © National Portrait Gallery, London

And echoing Beard, they add that visitors can learn more about the queens’ families, networks, and interests “…as well as the ways they used portraiture to communicate their politics, religious beliefs, values, identity and status”.

But it’s not an easy task. While real highlights are a recently conserved panel portrait of Katherine Parr, attributed to “Master John”, and a Hans Holbein the Younger miniature of Anne of Cleves, for Katherine Howard there are the doubts.

Katherine Parr (c.1547) attributed to Master John Fraser Marr Photography © Private collection, London

One miniature is “probably” of her, also by the young Holbein, from c1540.

Dr Bolland is happy with the veracity of images of Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves, for example, but notes,”the confused iconographies of Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, both executed as traitors, stem from a lack of securely identified portraits, possibly indicating their images were deliberately destroyed”.

And as time went on various misidentifications occurred and, now, she says we have to “choose who we listen to” to bring them to life. So note the catalogue cover images of the six queens are by artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, gelatin silver prints from 1999 of Madame Tussauds waxworks!

Jane Seymour (c.1537) after Hans Holbein the Younger © National Portrait Gallery, London

Itself, it neatly sums up an underlying theme of the show, that it aims to explore “the tension” between the real and the imagined.

It may be too much for some to take in all the clips and costumes, depictions and designs included – from TV to opera, cinema, stage, and more – but why not wonder at why Edgar Degas reworked a Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves?

Or even visit the NPG restaurant and enjoy, “Six twists on a Classic Spritz, each inspired by the unique history of each Queen…?

• At the NPG, St Martin’s Place​, WC2H 0HE ​until September 8.
Details: www.npg.org.uk
+44 (0)20 7306 0055