1 Submitted to the University of Hertfordshire in Partial Fulfilment Of
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1 Submitted to the University of Hertfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of MA by Research, April 2019. 2 Abstract The imagery of the ‘Rainbow’ Portrait of Elizabeth I which hangs at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire has been the subject of numerous academic investigations. However, few have addressed in satisfactory depth the many emblematic references that appear in the painting. Additionally, little research has been done to interpret the painting through an understanding of the material properties of the objects and clothing which it depicts. Through an interdisciplinary investigation this dissertation draws on evidence from Cesare Ripa’s emblem collection, the Iconologia (first published in 1593), combined with an examination of the Bacton Altar Cloth embroidery, c. 1590 -1600, currently being conserved by Historic Royal Palaces, supported by analysis of contextual source materials including John Gerard’s The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes and other ‘herbal’ texts, a selection of contemporary portraits, and poetry and theatrical dialogues from John Davies and William Shakespeare, to reveal a number of previously undiscussed visual references in the ‘Rainbow’ Portrait. These findings serve to aid our understanding of this enigmatic painting, and the intentions of its probable commissioner: Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury 3 Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 6 A Review of Previous Literature on the ‘Rainbow’ Portrait ............................................... 12 The ‘Springtime Theme’ .................................................................................................. 12 Religious Symbolism, and the ‘Cult of Elizabeth’ .......................................................... 22 Political Symbolism ......................................................................................................... 24 Image and Object: the Place of Dress History, the Place of Textile History, in the Study of Portraiture. ................................................................................................................... 26 Research Methodology .................................................................................................... 27 Dissertation Outline ............................................................................................................. 34 Chapter One: Laughing Flowers: an Emblematic Reading of the Floral Motifs in the ‘Rainbow’ Portrait ................................................................................................................. 36 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 36 The Medicinal Virtues of the Embroidered Plants in the ‘Rainbow’ Portrait ..................... 36 Shakespeare’s Imagery: ‘Blooming’ Brides and ‘Withering’ Womanhood ........................ 41 The ‘Mask of Youth’ and the ‘Subtle Smile’....................................................................... 45 Cesare Ripa and the Flowers of Mirth ................................................................................. 46 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 52 Chapter Two: Speaking Stitches: The ‘Weight’ of Embroidery for a Contemporary Audience.................................................................................................................................. 54 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 54 Modern Perceptions of Floral Decoration............................................................................ 55 The Gift Worth More than Money ....................................................................................... 60 Woven with Silver, Embroidered with Gold ....................................................................... 64 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 75 Chapter Three: The Presence of the Patron: Deciphering Visual References to Robert Cecil in the ‘Rainbow’ Portrait ............................................................................................ 76 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 76 The Mantle Covered with Eyes and Ears: a Compliment or a Boast? ................................. 78 An Embroidered Garden, a Celebrated Gardener ................................................................ 87 A ‘C’-shaped moon .............................................................................................................. 96 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 100 Chapter Four: Dismantling the ‘Rich Mantle’ of Eyes and Ears: an Impossible Gift in the Midst of a Very Real ‘Gifting Dynamic’. .................................................................... 101 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 101 The Power of Royal Gift Giving ........................................................................................ 102 4 The ‘Rainbow’ and the ‘Hardwick’ Portraits..................................................................... 107 The Real Versus the Fantastic in our Imagining of the Mantle ......................................... 110 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 115 Chapter Five: Death: the ‘Rainbow’ Portrait as a Posthumous Image of Elizabeth I .. 116 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 116 The Significance of a Significant Event ............................................................................ 118 The Disappearing Farthingale ............................................................................................ 125 The Mystery of the ‘Masque’ Costume ............................................................................. 130 Morte’ and the Mask of Death ........................................................................................... 136 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 138 Final Conclusion................................................................................................................... 140 Reinterpretations ................................................................................................................ 140 Material Insights ................................................................................................................ 141 Future Study ....................................................................................................................... 142 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 145 Primary Sources ................................................................................................................. 145 Secondary Sources ............................................................................................................. 146 Title page image: An illustration of a ‘heartsease’ or wild daisy, from John Gerard, The Herball, or, Generall Historie of Plantes (London: Adam Islip, Joice Norton and Richard Whitakers, 1636), p. 854. 5 Above: Figure [1] Attributed to Isaac Oliver, The ‘Rainbow’ Portrait of Elizabeth I, c. 1600, oil on canvas, Hatfield House, Hertfordshire. 6 Introduction The ‘Rainbow’ Portrait of Elizabeth I, which hangs at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, is an enigma. Undated and unsigned, all that can be known for certain of this painting’s background is the extent of its long residence in its present home; and in the possession of its current owners, the Salisbury family.1 It has proved a difficult image to put a convincing credit to, having been previously attributed at various times to Federico Zuccaro, John De Critz, and Marcus Gheeraerts II.2 Current consensus, however, assigns the authorship to a student of Nicholas Hilliard, Isaac Oliver (or Olivier), with the queen’s face taken from a face pattern made by Hilliard in the 1590s.3 Like many portraits of the queen taken during her lifetime as well as after her death, it is unlikely that Elizabeth ever sat for this painting. Evidence suggests that she rarely sat for any artist, and instead face patterns, taken infrequently by her most trusted court artists, were passed around among painters and used as bases for a large number of her portraits.4 Her apparel, as Janet Arnold has shown conclusively in her work on the royal wardrobe records of 1600, was sometimes replicated with precision from real life.5 In these instances garments and jewellery may have been borrowed from Elizabeth’s wardrobe and arranged with care in the artist’s studio to be copied.6