Elizabeth 1, Nonsuch Palace and Diana Part 2
David Shakespeare September 2020
Many of you will have watched my presentation on the portrait of Queen Elizabeth which hangs in Hampton Court Palace. I will start with a brief summary to remind you of some of the important points.
The artist was Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger who also painted the Rainbow portrait, both around 1600. The subject is a sad pregnant young woman in a magnificent gown standing under a walnut tree on the edge of a stream and crowning a weeping stag with pansies. On the right of the picture is a sonnet written in the first person, with the theme of wrongdoing and loss of a child. Hidden within the picture are references to William Shakespeare’s poem The phoenix and the turtle (dove).
Although the portrait has had many alterations in the 400 years since it was painted, analysis by my series of digital photographs, has helped reveal some of its features. The portrait is highly allegorical, in essence an illustrated sonnet, with the theme of the myth of Diana the goddess and Actaeon the hunter, who having spied on her bathing, was turned into a stag and rendered mute.