#anthony woodville

“Trouble’s Comin” was the song I was listening to when this drawing idea came to my mind. My interest was aroused even more when the image encompassed none other than Edward IV and his three eldest daughters. The scene, I believe, may have been set around 1472, with six-year-old Elizabeth, five-year-old Mary and three-year-old Cecily, just a year and a half after his return from exile in Burgundy. It is supposed to be time for hard work, but the Princesses of York will definitely make up for lost time in the presence of their father! 

So watch out, Edward! Trouble is coming!

Cecily Neville gave me a big headache when I tried to imagine her better. In my naivete, I thought I got rid of the hardest thing, but it wasn’t like that at all! Her son, George, the Duke of Clarence, was just as hard to portray, and that’s because my mind waged a war between the idea of making him a teenager and the one of illustrating him with a more mature figure. Well, considering that this is the first volume (I have great resentments for all the tasks offered by the college that made it difficult for me to work on this project!), I decided to choose the first option. So, I have a fifteen-year-old Clarence. 

PS: I can’t express in words how much I love this type of robe. I think I’ll let myself be swept away and I’ll draw a dozen, just for him!

I was going to do something completely different, but then this idea came to me. My brain whispered, “How about you draw Isabel Neville wearing maternity clothes?” and since then I have had no peace, neither in mind nor in soul. I think this is a hidden pleasure of mine, because I love to draw pregnant women. The outfit is not exactly what I would have liked, but time has not allowed me to think of something more elaborate, but maybe in the near future I will return to this idea with a different approach.

Richard the Duke of York is one of the figures I simply adore in the War of the Roses! And I especially love to draw him!

Isabel Neville seems to me one of the most interesting but vague personalities involved in the War of the Roses (I still don’t know absolutely all the details about her!), which makes her a character quite difficult to define in my project. I spent days thinking about a character design suitable for her and a few days ago I felt a sparkle: I needed something quite imposing and relevant to my project, thus I was faced with the need to let historical accuracy aside to some minimum extent/to a certain level (in order to better differentiate the characters from each other). Here I portrayed her as the Duchess of Clarence, a relatively mature figure of hers. I keep looking at historical pictures with her, wondering if I made a mistake, but all I can say right now is that I simply love this outfit!

While also working for this term’s project besides the Wars of the Roses, I thought it would be ideal to take into account the height of my main characters (because why not.) I hope that after I finish the other characters properly, I will better separate these elements.

The characters are as follows: Edward IV, Anthony Woodville, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, Richard Woodville, Jacquetta Woodville and Elizabeth Woodville.