Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Portrait Miniatures, Room 90a, The International Music and Art Foundation Gallery

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I

Portrait Miniature
ca. 1586-1587 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Miniatures of royalty often played a part in marriage negotiations with foreign courts. They also had a domestic political role. This miniature celebrates Queen Elizabeth as Cynthia, ‘the wide Ocean’s Empresse’, victorious ruler of a maritime nation. Elizabeth’s ambassadors often carried her miniature with them when abroad, which was much admired.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitlePortrait of Queen Elizabeth I (popular title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on vellum stuck onto plain card
Brief description
Portrait miniature of Queen Elizabeth I, watercolour on vellum, painted by Nicholas Hilliard, ca. 1586-1587.
Physical description
Portrait of Elizabeth I, half length, in an oval within a rectangular frame. On either side of the portrait are inscriptions in gold.
Dimensions
  • Height: 45mm
  • Width: 37mm
Strong, Roy. Artists of the Tudor Court: the Portrait Miniature Rediscovered 1520-1620. London: The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983.
Content description
Portrait of a woman, half length, looking to left and wearing an elaborate ruff and dress; her hair and costume are adorned with jewels.
Styles
Marks and inscriptions
'ELISA. / BETHA; Regina / Angliae.' (Inscribed with bands of lettering in black and gold on either side)
Gallery label
Credit line
Bequeathed by Mrs Doris Herschorn
Object history
From 'Artists of the Tudor Court', V&A exhibition, 1983, entry for P.23-1975: This miniature once belonged to a group of ten, four of which are now in the V&A [P.23-1975, P.24-1975, P.27-1975 and P.28-1975 - all framed in the same way with the miniature laid onto a later piece of parchment and inscribed with details of the sitter]. The earliest account of their history (Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower, The Great Historic Galleries of England, London, 1881, pl. xx) is highly romanticized and claims provenance from James II via Louis XIV which cannot be proved. Their certain history is as follows: acquired in Paris by James Edwards (1757-1816), bookseller and bibliographer, probably in the aftermath of the Treaty of Amiens; sold Christie’s July 15th 1816 (lot 61); acquired by the Rev. Thomas Butt of Kinnersley, Shropshire, who married Edward’s widow; by descent to Capt. H. Edwards-Heathcote, Belton Hall, Market Drayton; sold Christie’s June 13th 1928 (lot 45); purchased by Mrs Doris Herschorn; bequeathed, 1975.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Miniatures of royalty often played a part in marriage negotiations with foreign courts. They also had a domestic political role. This miniature celebrates Queen Elizabeth as Cynthia, ‘the wide Ocean’s Empresse’, victorious ruler of a maritime nation. Elizabeth’s ambassadors often carried her miniature with them when abroad, which was much admired.
Bibliographic references
  • Strong, Roy. Artists of the Tudor Court: the Portrait Miniature Rediscovered 1520-1620. London: The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983. Cat. 192, p. 121. Part Citation:"About 1586-87 we have, for the first time, clear evidence of Hilliard multiplying the same miniature of the Queen. Three versions are extant of this face-mask, the second, in the Drake Jewel, contains the regnal year enabling us to date it to 1586-87 (Roy Strong, Renaissance Miniature, pl. 98) and the third is in the Beauchamp Collection (Erna Auerbach, Hilliard, 1961, pl. 57). None of the versions, including the V&A one, is from life. All, however, observe the Queen’s dresses and jewels correctly. This version includes details such as the black picture box secured by an orange bow at her left breast and, more important, a very early allusion to her as the moon-goddess, Cynthia or Diana, in the crescent-jewel resting in her hair which is also scattered with tiny arrows (a further allusion to Diana, as goddess of the chase?). The other early dated visual allusion to the moon-cult is the portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh, dated 1588, in the National Portrait Gallery (Roy Strong, Tudor and Jacobean, I, pp. 256-57; II, pl. 505).
  • p. 109 Catharine MacLeod with Rab MacGibbon, Victoria Button, Katherine Coombs and Alan Derbyshire.‎ Elizabethan treasures : miniatures by Hilliard and Oliver. London : National Portrait Gallery, 2019.‎ ISBN: 9781855147027‎
Collection
Accession number
P.23-1975

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Record createdJuly 8, 2003
Record URL
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