King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn

The Thorne Room titled “King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn” is on public display for the first time since it was created almost 100 years ago. Narcissa Niblack Thorne created and gifted this roombox to a Chicago socialite friend of hers, Marion McCormick, who built it into a wall of her home to be enjoyed by her family and friends. It remained there after Helen S. Van Mells purchased the home from Mrs. Thorne. The roombox is now part of the Museum’s collection and it is displayed in honor of Mrs. Van Mells.

Mrs. Thorne was inspired by European architecture during her travels, and this early piece is an example of her attention to historical detail. Mrs. Thorne and her team of artists created over 100 roomboxes, 68 of which are on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. The only known instances of dolls being used in Mrs. Thorne’s roomboxes were paper dolls, so this may question that perhaps the dolls in this particular setting were added later. However, Mrs. Thorne wrote and signed “King Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn” on the same type of paper she used on the seal of her other works, which leads us to believe the dolls were placed in the roombox when it was created.