Flemish School, late 16th Century
late 16th – century

Portrait of a Noblewoman, traditionally called Queen Elizabeth I

oil on panel transferred to canvas

47 3/4"×37 1/2" (121.3 cm× 95.3 cm)

PROVENANCE: Private Collection, Connecticut

NOTE: Countless images of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) were executed during her sovereignty. This was part of a constituted effort to visually disseminate her glory, power, and fame throughout her country and beyond. During an age that had witnessed vast upheavals in religious doctrine and a massive destruction of its iconography Elizabeth rose from the ashes, much like her favored imagery of the phoenix, to take its place.

An official court painter was never appointed, and Elizabeth sat at most for only a handful of artists. The majority of her portraits were executed by anonymous artists working from court sanctioned prototypes. By the 1590’s the demand for her portrait from her subjects had become intense. The majority of prominent households in England would have displayed a painting of the Queen (1).

The most widely employed of the patterns used for Elizabeth’s depiction was that of the Darnley face-pattern. Derived from a portrait of Elizabeth done by an unknown artist, circa 1575, now in the National Portrait Gallery, London (inventory no. 2082), it would be employed by artists at every level of quality. Its primary feature was a blanched-mask like rendering of Elizabeth’s face that was set into a wide array of dresses and jewels. In use in painters’ studios throughout the 1580’s and into the 1590’s, the original model’s characteristics could become quite diluted (2). Our painting is reminiscent of the Darnley face-pattern’s various interpretations.

Elizabeth’s wardrobe is well documented, possessing dresses from such diverse nations as that of Italy, France, Spain, Flanders, and Poland. (For a full account see, Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth’s Wardrobe Unlock’d, W.S. Maney & Son Ltd., Leeds, 1988). Dress, an important part of sixteenth century life, was skillfully employed by the Queen. It could reflect political alignment, and was a tactic used by her in life as well as in art (3).

Our portrait depicts a Spanish style dress with jewels worthy of a queen. The forest of enameled gold and pearl jeweled "buttons" that match the links of the girdle are typical of Spanish taste in its preference for matching sets as opposed to varied displays of costly gems. The profusion of pearls in the aigrette, earring, triple rope at the neck and girdle, and buttons is again Spanish, or one of its dominions, in feel. The holding of a lace handkerchief, a fashion object of the greatest importance on the Continent, can be seen in numerous contemporary portraits of royals by Sanchez Coello, Bartolomé Gonzalez, and Pantoja de la Cruz. The dress is composed of the four colors white, black, red, and gold that made up the majority of the Queen’s wardrobe (4); black and white being her personal colors (5). In her auburn hair she wears a red rose, one of Elizabeth’s symbols, as well as pearls in the shape of a fleur-de-lis. Pearls have the added significance of being emblems of chastity. Her largest ornament is a pendant displaying an eagle (here impaled on a rose) which was one of the most revered symbols of ancient Rome; one that referred not only to the emperor but also to their immortal ruler Jupiter, a duality that would have appealed to Elizabeth. Roman Imperial themes appeared in Elizabethan processionals and jousts (to the extent that even chariots were employed), as well as their poetry (6).

Our lady’s left hand rests on the back of a chair which holds a remnant of what appears to be a sieve. The sieve was another symbol of chastity, used at the time only by Elizabeth in a number of portraits starting from about 1579. In the background, past the flanking column, is a fantasy of parks, buildings, and scurrying servants. In the far distance is an ethereal landscape reminiscent of the sanctified ground found in religious works. Ê Ê

We are grateful to Diana Scarisbrick for her detailed information on our sitter’s dress, buttons and pearls.

(1) Roy Strong, Gloriana, The Portraits of Queen Elizabeth I, Pimlico, London, 2003, p.21.

(2) Ibid., 88-89.

(3) Ibid., 21.

(4) Tarnya Cooper, "Portrait of Elizabeth I with a Pelican Emblem", exhibition Catalog National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Elizabeth, May 1- September 14, 2003, p. 192.

(5) Strong, p 21.

(6) Roy Strong, The Cult of Elizabeth, Pimlico, London, 1999, pp. 121-122.