Anne, Lady Pope with her Children

Anne (n�e Hopton), Lady Pope (1561-1625), was the former wife of 3rd Baron Wentworth, and later of Sir William Pope of Wroxton, later 1st Earl of Downe. She is shown here with her three children, Thomas, Henry and Jane from her first marriage. The year before this portrait was commissioned Anne had married Sir William Pope of Wroxton. At the age of thirty five Anne is also pregnant, presumably with William Pope her first child from this marriage. The portrait was probably commissioned by her new husband and celebrates Anne’s fertility and new family connections. As pregnancy was a dangerous period for women, the portrait also served to record her likeness should she die in childbirth. Anne survived and bore a daughter, Anne, and another son, Thomas, later 3rd Earl of Downe.