The ''Armada Portrait'' of

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

is the name of any of three surviving versions of an

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory ...

panel painting A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel of wood, either a single piece or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, panel painting was the normal method, when not pain ...

depicting the Tudor queen surrounded by

symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...

s of royal majesty against a backdrop representing the defeat of the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an a ...

in 1588.

Iconography

The combination of a life-sized portrait of Elizabeth I with a landscape format is "quite unprecedented in her portraiture",Strong 1987, ''Gloriana'', p. 130–133 although allegorical portraits in this format, such as the ''Family of Henry VIII: An Allegory of the Tudor Succession'', a 1572 portrait attributed to

Lucas de Heere Lucas de Heere (1534 – 29 August 1584) was a Flemish painter, poet and writer. His costume books and portraits are a valuable resource in depicting 16th-century clothing. Biography Lucas de Heere, a Protestant, was born in Ghent, the ...

pre-date the ''Armada Portrait''. English art in this period was isolated from trends in

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

Italy, and owed more to

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium ...

manuscript illumination An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, th ...

and

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known bran ...

representation than to

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

ideas of unity in time and space in art. The 'Armada Portrait' is no exception: the chair to the right is viewed from two different angles, as are the tables on the left, and the background shows two different stages in the defeat of the Armada. In the background view on the left, English

fireship A fire ship or fireship, used in the days of wooden rowed or sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, or gunpowder deliberately set on fire and steered (or, when possible, allowed to drift) into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy sh ...

s drift towards the Spanish fleet, and on the right the Spanish ships are driven onto a rocky coast amid stormy seas by the " Protestant Wind". On a secondary level, these images show Elizabeth turning her back on storm and darkness while sunlight shines where she gazes,

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

that would be repeated in

Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger Marcus Gheeraerts (also written as Gerards or Geerards; 1561/62 – 19 January 1636) was a Flemish artist working at the Tudor court, described as "the most important artist of quality to work in England in large-scale between Eworth and van ...

's 1592 "Ditchley" portrait of the queen. Columnas Plus Ultra

The queen's hand rests on a globe below a crown (probably not the

state crown A state crown is the working crown worn or used by a monarch on recurring state occasions such as when opening Parliament in Britain, as opposed to the coronation crown with which they would be formally crowned. Some state crowns might however b ...

), "her fingers covering the Americas, indicating England's ommand of the seasand

reams of establishing colonies Various measures of paper quantity have been and are in use. Although there are no S.I. units such as quires and bales, there are ISO''ISO 4046-3:2002 Paper, board, pulps and related terms – Vocabulary – Part 3: Paper-making terminology'' (20 ...

in the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

".Hearn, ''Dynasties'', p. 88Andrew Belsey and Catherine Belsey, "Icons of Divinity: Portraits of Elizabeth I" in Gent and Llewellyen, ''Renaissance Bodies'', p. 11–35 The queen is flanked by two columns behind, probably a reference to the famous

impresa Impresa (full name: IMPRESA Sociedade Gestora de Participações Sociais SA) () is a Portuguese media conglomerate, headquartered in Paço de Arcos, in Oeiras municipality. It is the owner of SIC TV channel, and ''Expresso'' newspaper, amon ...

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infant ...

, Philip II's father, which represented the

Pillars of Hercules The Pillars of Hercules ( la, Columnae Herculis, grc, Ἡράκλειαι Στῆλαι, , ar, أعمدة هرقل, Aʿmidat Hiraql, es, Columnas de Hércules) was the phrase that was applied in Antiquity to the promontories that flank t ...

Art historians The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic vis ...

Andrew Belsey and

Catherine Belsey Catherine Belsey (13 December 1940 – 14 February 2021) was a British literary critic and academic. Early life Belsey was born in Salisbury and attended Godolphin and Latymer School in London. She studied at Somerville College, Oxford, and subs ...

have pointed out the striking

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...

of the painting, with the repeating patterns of circles and arches described by the crown, the globe, and the sleeves, ruff, and gown worn by the queen. They also contrast the figure of the Virgin Queen wearing the large pearl symbolizing

chastity Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is ''chaste'' refrains either from sexual activity considered immoral or any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for example when ma ...

suspended from her

bodice A bodice () is an article of clothing traditionally for women and girls, covering the torso from the neck to the waist. The term typically refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the 18th century, or to th ...

and the

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

carved on the chair of state, which they claim either represent female wiles luring sailors to their doom, or that the mermaid symbolises the executed Queen Mary. Elizabeth is facing away from the mermaid, possibly indicating that their conspiracies and Mary's execution have been put behind my Elizabeth. The crown also symbolises the

English monarchy The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Baili ...

. The chains of pearls in the portrait may represent the pearls which Elizabeth had bought from the collection of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1568.

Versions

There are three surviving versions of the portrait, in addition to several derivative portraits: * The version at

Woburn Abbey Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors ...

* The version in the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

, which has been cut down at both sides leaving just a portrait of the queen. * The version owned by the Tyrwhitt-Drake family, which may have been commissioned by Sir

Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 ...

, was first recorded at Shardeloes in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-eas ...

in 1775. Scholars agree that this version is by a different hand, noting distinctive techniques and approaches to the modelling of the queen's features. This version was heavily overpainted in the later 17th century, which complicates attribution and may account for several differences in details of the costume.Arnold, ''Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd'', p. 34–36 The Drake version was purchased for the nation for £10.3 million in July 2016 following an Art Fund appeal. The work is hung in the national collection of

Royal Museums Greenwich Royal Museums Greenwich is an organisation comprising four museums in Greenwich, east London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Tha ...

(RMG), in the

Queen's House Queen's House is a former royal residence built between 1616 and 1635 near Greenwich Palace, a few miles down-river from the City of London and now in the London Borough of Greenwich. It presently forms a central focus of what is now the Old Ro ...

, a 17th-century royal residence built on the site of the original

Greenwich Palace Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, Elizabeth I's birthplace. The first two portraits were formerly attributed to Elizabeth's

Serjeant Painter The Serjeant Painter was an honourable and lucrative position as court painter with the English monarch. It carried with it the prerogative of painting and gilding all of the King's residences, coaches, banners, etc. and it grossed over £1,000 ...

George Gower George Gower (c.1540–1596) was an English portrait painter who became Serjeant Painter to Queen Elizabeth I in 1581. Biography Very little is known about his early life except that he was a grandson of Sir John Gower of Stittenham, North ...

, but curators at the National Portrait Gallery now believe that all three versions were created in separate workshops, and assign the attributions to "an unknown English artist". Image:Queen Elizabeth I by George Gower.jpg, National Portrait Gallery version Image:Armada Portrait Elizabeth I Queens House.jpg, The "Drake" version, now at Queen's House, Royal Museums Greenwich

Notes

References

* Arnold, Janet: ''Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd'', W S Maney and Son Ltd, Leeds 1988. *Cooper, Tarnya; Bolland, Charlotte (2014). The Real Tudors : kings and queens rediscovered. London: National Portrait Gallery. pp. 151–154. . *Gent, Lucy, and Nigel Llewellyn, eds: ''Renaissance Bodies: The Human Figure in English Culture c. 1540–1660''Reaktion Books, 1990, *Hearn, Karen, ed. ''Dynasties: Painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530–1630''. New York: Rizzoli, 1995. * Strong, Roy: ''Gloriana: The Portraits of Queen Elizabeth I'', Thames and Hudson, 1987, {{ISBN, 0-500-25098-7 (Strong 1987)

External links

* Discussion by

Janina Ramirez Janina Sara Maria Ramirez (; ' Maleczek; born 7 July 1980), sometimes credited as Nina Ramirez, is a British art historian, cultural historian, and TV presenter. She specialises in interpreting symbols and examining works of art within their hi ...

Art Detective Podcast, 14 December 2016
1588 paintings Renaissance paintings 16th-century portraits Elizabeth I Portraits of Elizabeth I of England Portraits of women Portraits of the English royal family

Iconography

Versions

See also

Notes

References

External links