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Claire | January 1, 2012
There’s an interesting article on the BBC website entitled A Point of View: Dazzling in an age of austerity in which historian Lisa Jardine talks about how “Elizabeth used ostentation and opulence in her dress as a political tool to increase national confidence in the solvency of her regime”. It is an excellent article and
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Claire | January 6, 2011
You may have noticed my post over at The Anne Boleyn Files about the National Portrait Gallery portrait of Anne Boleyn being in need of urgent restoration work, but it is not the only portrait which needs work. The NPG are also trying to raise funds to start cleaning and conservation work on the late
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Claire | December 7, 2010
A 16th century portrait of Elizabeth I, painted by an unknown artist, is due to go on display at the Whitechapel Gallery in London next year. It is part of the Government Art Collection of over 13,500 works which are usually found hanging on the walls of government buildings, such as embassies. This Elizabeth portrait
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Claire | September 28, 2010
I was inspired to write this post today by a member of The Anne Boleyn Files Facebook page, Jane, who commented that the portrait of Elizabeth I on the cover of the latest issue of History Today looks like an older Anne Boleyn. As you can see from looking at the National Portrait Gallery portrait
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Claire | September 15, 2010
Following on from my post yesterday regarding the new evidence on the Elizabeth I Phoenix and Pelican portraits, Tamise who runs The Lady Jane Grey Reference Guide Blog, told me about the National Portrait Gallery page on this one week long exhibition, which you can find at http://www.npg.org.uk/research/programmes/making-art-in-tudor-britain/the-phoenix-and-the-pelican-two-portraits-of-elizabeth-i-c.1575.php What I love about this page is
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Claire | September 14, 2010
Back in June, I looked at the Phoenix and Pelican portraits of Elizabeth I and examined the symbolism in the portrait. Well, these portraits have been in the news in the past couple of days because art historians have found new evidence which points to them both being painted by English artist Nicholas Hilliard, a
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Claire | July 7, 2010
Today we’re going to look at a portrait which is startlingly similar to last week’s Pelican Portrait, a portrait which almost looks like a mirror of the Pelican Portrait if you just glance at it quickly. Here it is, it is the Phoenix Portrait:- The Phoenix Portrait was painted around the same time (perhaps a
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Claire | June 29, 2010
Thank you so much for all of your comments regarding symbolism in the Armada portrait, I still can’t figure out whether it’s a pomegranate or a finial behind Elizabeth, but it’s great fun discussing these portraits and puzzling them out. Today, we’re going to look at the famous Pelican Portrait thought to have been painted
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Claire | June 23, 2010
Following on from last week’s article “Elizabeth I – Queen of PR”, I thought it would be good to start our examination of Elizabeth I portraits with the famous Armada portrait. This portrait is by an unknown artist (possibly George Gower) and was painted circa 1588, the same year as Elizabeth I’s defeat of the
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Claire | June 17, 2010
A few months ago I wrote an article entitled “Elizabeth I’s Image” which was based on the BBC series “The Seven Ages of Britain”, a series which looked at Britain’s history through its art and treasure. In that article I mentioned how Elizabeth I, like her father Henry VIII, used her portraits as propaganda, as
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