by Natalie Bennett

Many of the male portraits in the Renaissance Faces exhibition at the National Gallery are well known, iconic even – take Hans Holbein the Younger’s “The Ambassadors”. Although among the famous depictions of women here are the wife of Giovanni Arnolfini, and the much talked about Quinten Massys “The Ugly Duchess”, a savage portrait of female old age.

So to get a different perspective on the Renaissance, and meet the best collection of the women of the age now possible, I decided to go around the exhibition concentrating on the women – and the real women. (There’s obviously been a commendable desire here for gender balance, but it did lead to Virgins and “ideal” women being included among the genuine portraiture.)

One of the oldest real faces of women we have from anywhere is one of the youngest people here, a portrait that is probably of Blanche, daughter of Henry IV of England, who married Ludwig of Bavaria in 1402 at age 10. (The portrait here is probably from a few years after that.)

In profile, as is usual for the time, she’s notable for savagely plucked eyebrows and a thorough ageless face. (Perhaps the way the artist dealt with her youth.) Not looking into our eyes make her seem distant, aloof and much older than her years

It’s carefully bland, unlike Alesso Baldovinetti’s “Portrait of a Lady” c 1465, which has a faint, Mona Lisa-like smile. You feel like she’s glimpsing you feel out of the corner of her eye, and something of the set of the jaw suggests a strong character.

We’re back with the children with an attractive portrait of a pensive young girl by Jan Gossearft that is probably Dorothea, eldest daughter of King Christian of Denmark, who was deposed 1523. This image was painted about 1530; it holds eyes much older than her face.

The Englishwomen here are a small but stalwart collection. Hans Holbein the Younger’s “A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling”, has been identified as Anne Ashby, Lady Lovell, wife of Sir Francis, whose coat of arms includes three squirrels. She has a sober, almost sad, reflective expression, contrasting with the perkily curious starling at her shoulder. Nonetheless it is a solid reliable face, one you’d trust to run a household.

Even more formidable is the black-clad figure of Mary Neville, Baroness Dacre, from about 1555, with a portrait of her husband (who was executed like a common criminal for killing a gamekeeper) in the background and she’s writing what may be a prayer for strength. Look at her face and you’d doubt that she ever struggled to find that.

Similarly in need of strength was the woman portrayed here by Jan van Scorel. He was a canon in Utrecht and forbidden to marry, but he and his subject here, Agatha van Schonhoven, had six children together. She’s beautiful but looks tough, as she probably had to be.

But the strongest female face of all here, as is fitting, is Antonis Mor’s “Mary Tudor, Queen of England”. It is determined, but perhaps surprisingly given the historical view we have of her today, sophisticated and acute.

The exhibition continues until January 18 at the National Gallery.