Elizabeth in Portraiture

Elizabeth

who she really was:

5ft 4  as tall as guys – a model like frame 

skin blemished by small pox and burned by lead oxide make-up

teeth blacked by decay

halitosis

alopecia

As the Queen Elizabeth's popularity grew she had more portraits painted of her, similarly to our celebrity's being photographed more the more famous they are. As anyone with a reputation to up hold would be, queen Elizabeth was very conscious of how her people would conceive her. Due to this concern she would only let artists represent her regal position and statue.

 The style of the paintings have changed through her years as the artists themselves can make much more elaborate paintings. Often when people see portraits of Elizabeth they assume they are all of a large scale, when in fact those of a noble status may have smaller pairings that they could carry around or adorn themselves with to show their loyalty. Elizabeth would rather have her younger portraits shown as youth is a desirable characteristic.

STATUS SYMBOLISM 

IN ELIZABETHS PORTRAITURE

  

THE ARMADA PORTRAIT

1.1558, painted by the artist George Gower in Oil paint.


•   Her hand is on a globe and her fingers are touching over the south America, source of Spain's gold, showing her imperial ambitions.

•   The paintings to her left and right symbolise the Spanish armada.

•   The pearls are a symbol of purity, the quantity of pearls show her wealth.

•   The pearl necklace was given to her by Dudley and it was said to be the last thing he gave to her.

THE RAINBOW PORTRAIT

•   The gown is embroidered with English flowers, The tudor rose was used in elizabeths portraits to renforce the fact that she was  a vergin queen

•   Her cloak is decorated with eyes and ears – just like in Elizabeth the film as its on her bed lace – showing that she sees and hears everything

•   On her arm she has a large serpent with a large heart shaped ruby in its mouth- the serpent representing wisdom and the ruby her heart saying that her heart is ruled by her wisdom.

•   She is in her late 60’s in this portrait but she is still portrayed as young and beautiful and AGELESS.

•   The rainbow symbolises peace, with the old latin motto- non sine sole iris which means no rainbow without the sun

THE PELICAN PORTRAIT 1575-

•   Painted by her favourite painter

•   She includes the pearls again symbolising her purity

•   The pelican is representative. In the tudor times they thought that the pelicans would pluck there own feathers to feed their infants even though it was actually a mistake when the pelicans were in fact just grooming. However Elizabeth took on the traits of the pelicans and uses this as a symbol to say that she has the motherly love over England and that she will sacrifice her self for her country.

•   She wears the colours she usually seen wearing black, whit, red or gold.  The colours she is wearing. Red comes from Spain and are restricted for only the wealthiest to wear. She would wear black a lot because black is very fashionable amongst the elite.

•   The white shirt she is wearing is embroidered with black lace and its called black work, and in this specific shirt is embroidered with English roses.

THE PHOENIX PORTRAIT-  1572-

•   A lot of the symbolisism in this is referring to her virginity and uniqueness.

•   This portrait is the last chance of selling her self as marragable

THE ERMINE PORTRAIT – 1585

•   The ermine represents royalty.- Only certain people were aloud to wear earmin.

•   She is wearing the three brothers jewels, which is one of her favourite jewels

•   In the corner there is a sawd to symbolize justice  and although she is peaceful she is able to defend her title if needed

•   But then there is a olive branch in the corner to represent peace.

 THE BOOK PORTRAIT-

•   She’s in red again.

•   she loves her hands so much she would often hold a book or another object to attract attention.

•   The catholic and protestants are fighting at the time and she is holding a protestant book and her finger is inside it showing her faith.