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| A few of my favourite images from the National Portrait Gallery |
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| Queen Elizabeth I |
I really love this portrait of Queen Elizabeth in the National Portrait Gallery. Before we'd even started this project I used to admire this picture in particular for several reasons. Firstly, I loved the clothing, the pearls and the setting of the picture. It's so royal looking!!!
I've researched this particular painting and have found out that it was painted as a live portrait in 1575, unfortunately, by an unknown artist. The bland facial expression of the Queen would have been this way because she'd have been sat for a long time being painted. Most of her portraits are like this.
Elizabeth is described as looking 'cold, haughty and imperious'. I think the aim of these portraits was to get the message across that Elizabeth was serious about her role as Queen and was to be taken seriously in general. She is wearing a doublet with a lace ruff collar, a pearl necklace and she's even carrying an ostrich feather in this portrait. Her crown is close by behind her on the table, but is quite hard to detect as the rich colours of the painting have naturally faded over time. The golden brown pattern on her dress would have originally been gold and crimson. Her clothing makes it obvious that she is a royal lady and someone of extreme importance.
Sources: Pictures in National Portrait Gallery 'The 'Darnley Portrait' (1533-1603)'
Researched on: http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw02075/Queen-Elizabeth-I?LinkID=mp01452&role=sit&rNo=5#artist
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