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Elizabeth A.Sackler Center for Feminist Art

Levina Teerling

b. circa 1510–20, Bruges, Belgium; d. 1576, London

The correct spelling of this name is LEVINA TEERLINC.

Levina Teerlinc was trained as a painter by her father, the manuscript illuminator Simon Bening. Renowned as a miniaturist, from around 1645 Teerlinc served as “royal paintrix” in the court of Henry VIII of England and was paid more than her predecessor, Hans Holbein. She continued in this post during the reign of Edward VI, and was employed as a gentlewoman in the royal households of Mary I and Elizabeth I. Five extant miniatures are tentatively attributed to Teerlinc.