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Elizabeth I: Likeness and Image

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Elizabeth I: Likeness and Image Elizabeth I: Likeness and Image Elizabeth I Interest in the art of portraiture increased Left to right dramatically in the second half of the sixteenth Queen Elizabeth I century and Queen Elizabeth became one of the By Nicholas Hilliard, 1572 most visible rulers in English history. Elizabeth NPG 108 and her regime made good use of the power Queen Elizabeth I (‘The Darnley portrait’) of visual imagery to project the desired image By an unknown continental artist, of monarchy. Many contemporary portraits of c.1575 NPG 2082 Elizabeth survive. As the queen rarely sat for her portrait, most of these are versions of the same composition based on established patterns. Painting the Queen The painting of Elizabeth produced around 1575, known as the ‘Darnley portrait’, is one of the In 1572 Elizabeth sat to the miniaturist Nicholas As Elizabeth’s courtiers and statesmen most important portraits of the queen and was Hilliard. According to the artist, the queen chose recognised, the queen’s public profile probably painted from life. It presumably gained to sit in ‘the open alley of a goodly garden, where needed to reflect her unique status as her approval as this portrait provided a face pattern no tree was near, nor any shadow at all’. The both a powerful monarch and a woman. that was reused many times throughout her reign. resulting portrait is probably the miniature shown Consequently, there were several attempts Its persistent use also ensured that she continued here, which depicts Elizabeth in a clear even light. to control the appearance and circulation to appear youthful even in advancing age. of the queen’s portraits, although they i were never officially enacted. Who Saw the Queen’s Image Portraits of Elizabeth I were not only seen by elite courtiers. In one respect the queen’s image was Left to right literally everywhere, as her profile appeared upon Queen Elizabeth I the newly-minted coins produced in 1558–60 (‘The Ditchley portrait’) By Marcus Gheeraerts the as part of an ambitious programme of re-coinage. Elizabeth I Younger, c.1592 Different types of image were crafted for particular NPG 2561 purposes. Printed images or small-scale painted Queen Elizabeth I (‘Elizabeth I and the copies were produced for a domestic market, Three Goddesses’) purchased to order or sold ready-made. As well Attributed to Isaac Oliver, c.1590 NPG 6947 as the nobility it is likely that among artisan, professional and gentry households there were many others who owned a portrait of their queen. Magnificence and Symbolism and they may have formed part of elaborate chivalric rituals or played a role in court The mid-1570s mark the beginning of a period celebrations. Elizabeth generally appears with when Elizabeth’s appearance became increasingly a range of emblems that encouraged an audience magnificent. These later portraits were designed schooled in Renaissance symbolism to reflect not so much to work as realistic likenesses but upon her special virtues of virginity, charity and to serve as symbols of embodied monarchy wisdom. This can be seen in a small cabinet and God-given order. Most of the well-known miniature of Elizabeth I and the Three Goddesses. portraits of the queen were produced for a courtly Here a classical narrative is used to flatter the audience; the full-length ‘Ditchley portrait’, for Queen Elizabeth I queen, who is styled as the single embodiment By Steven van Herwijck, 1565 example, shows her standing on a map of England of the Three Goddesses’ combined virtues. NPG 4294 and was commissioned by the queen’s champion i Sir Henry Lee. These images were designed to This pick-up can also be found on our speak to an elite audience of educated courtiers website at npg.org.uk/tudor-pickup.
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