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 that it has close-ups of the pelican and phoenix pendants, information about the technical analysis of the paintings and photos of the infra-red reflectogram analysis of the Phoenix portrait. It also shows a comparison between the magnified detail of the hair in the phoenix and pelican portraits, and the hair in Hilliard’s miniature of Elizabeth, showing the similarity in technique.
The page also has full information on each of the portraits – enjoy!
What a great exhibition. I think those close up shots of the way the hair was painted really shows that they had to have been done by one artist or an artist who carefully watched any other artist working on them. I wonder if there is any mention of where the paintings were originally placed.