[1] It was commissioned that year by Thomas Cromwell, agent for Henry VIII, as a betrothal painting following the death of the English Queen Jane Seymour.

[4] Following the 1537 death of the English Queen Jane Seymour, Holbein was commissioned to paint portraits of noblewomen eligible to marry Henry VIII.

That afternoon he made preparatory sketches of her head; the final oil painting was completed at some point shortly after his return to England.

Christina herself was against the marriage arrangement; she was only sixteen years old and made no secret of her distaste for Henry, who by this time had a reputation around Europe for the mistreatment of his wives.

[2] Henry was so taken with the initial colour drawings for the portrait — which showed only her head[5] — that, according to the imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys, "since he saw it he has been in much better humour than he ever was, making musicians play on their instruments all day long".

[5] John Hutton, the English ambassador in Brussels, reported that another artist's drawing of Christina was "sloberid" (slobbered) compared to Holbein's.

[7][3] Holbein's portrait appears in an inventory of Henry VIII as a "great table with the Picture of the duches of Mylane being her whole stature".