December 15: Mary, Queen of Scots in Mourning

Today's beautiful portrait is one of Mary, Queen of Scots, in mourning garb. It was painted by François Clouet between 1559 and 1560, but before the death of Mary's husband, Francis II of France. She wasn't mourning her husband, she was mourning the deaths of her father-in-law, Henry II of France, who died on 10th July 1559, and her mother, Mary of Guise, who died on 11th June 1560.

Mary would have been just 16/17 when this portrait was painted but she looks so much older, doesn't she?