Examines constructed whiteness in three late 16th and early 17th century paintings in the Tate Britain collection, portraits for which Couloute serves as gallery guide. This Tate paper argues that the depiction of skin tone, dress, cosmetics, and heraldry in portraiture evidence English nation-building, colonialism, and identity through inheritance. The scholarship is of interest to students of art history and portraiture, constructions of whiteness, and gender studies.