The Pelican Portrait is an oil painting 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. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

on a wood panel, named for the pelican pendant shown on Elizabeth's breast. It is generally attributed to

Nicholas Hilliard Nicholas Hilliard ( – before 7 January 1619) was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some l ...

, on the basis of a scientific study and similarities to his other work. Dating from about 1575, for many generations the painting was at

Charlton House Charlton House is a Jacobean building in Charlton, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich in south-east London. Originally it was a residence for a nobleman associated with the Stuart royal family. It later served as a wartime hospital, the ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, in the possession of the Earls of Suffolk. In 1930 it was sold to E. Peter Jones, who later donated it to the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History The Walker Art Gallery's collection dates from 1819 ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Features

The work was painted around 1575, when Queen Elizabeth was about forty-two. Its name comes from a rich jewel shown on her breast: a pendant in the form of a

pelican in her piety Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...

. The female pelican was then believed to feed its young with blood from its own body, and the one in the pendant has its wings outstretched and is pecking its breast. This is taken as an allusion to Elizabeth as a self-sacrificing mother of the English nation, and the Queen was herself fond of the symbolism of the pelican."Elizabeth I's pelican emblem"
at

Royal Museums Greenwich Royal Museums Greenwich is an organisation comprising four museums in Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater L ...

, rmg.co.uk, accessed 27 December 2020 A pelican jewel was recorded in one of Elizabeth's inventories, as a "jewell of golde like a Pellican garnished with diamondes of sondrie sortes and bigness, under her feete three rubies and a triangle diamond". In the portrait Elizabeth is magnificently dressed and is wearing other elaborate jewellery. On her right upper arm is a decorated armlet. Her headdress and velvet gown are richly bejewelled, especially with large pearls, which are a symbol of chastity and link the Queen to

Artemis In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...

, the goddess of the Moon and chastity in Greek mythology. Two cherries on her right ear may also allude to her as a virgin Queen. The fringe of a canopy above her head hints at a throne room. A Tudor rose celebrates her dynasty,"The Phoenix and the Pelican: two portraits of Elizabeth I, "
National Portrait Gallery, accessed 27 December 2020 while a

fleur-de-lis The ''fleur-de-lis'', also spelled ''fleur-de-lys'' (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a common heraldic charge in the (stylized) shape of a lily (in French, and mean and respectively). Most notably, the ''fleur-de-lis'' ...

asserts her claim to the throne of France. The Queen's

partlet A partlet (or partlett) was a 16th-century fashion accessory. The partlet was a sleeveless garment worn over the neck and shoulders, either worn over a dress or worn to fill in a low neckline. The earliest partlets appeared in European fashion l ...

and sleeves are

blackwork Blackwork, sometimes historically termed Spanish blackwork, is a form of embroidery generally worked in black thread, although other colours are also used on occasion, as in scarletwork, where the embroidery is worked in red thread. Most strong ...

of Tudor roses, embroidered on white cloth in black thread.

Artist

The attribution to Nicholas Hilliard (–1619) is uncertain, though some writers have found the case for Hilliard as the artist so convincing that they state him as the painter without reservation. Hilliard painted Elizabeth from life over many years from the early 1570s on and came nearest to being her appointed court painter. He was instrumental in building the Queen's image as an icon of virtue and splendour. Best known for his miniatures, Hilliard is also known to have painted some larger portraits, such as this. The portrait has been compared in particular to one of Hilliard's known miniatures of the Queen. In his essay ''The Art of Limning'' he noted that the Queen sat for him in "the open alley of a goodly garden". She liked to be painted outdoors, as there was less effect from shadows.

Technical analysis

A technical analysis of the painting alongside another of the Queen from the same period, known as the Phoenix Portrait, was carried out in September 2010 and concluded that they came from the same workshop. The wooden panels on which they are painted were made from the same two oak trees, and the two face patterns match exactly in

mirror image A mirror image (in a plane mirror) is a reflection (physics), reflected duplication of an object that appears almost identical, but is reversed in the direction perpendicular to the mirror surface. As an optical phenomenon, optical effect, it r ...

. The analysis discovered that the mouth, nose, and eyes of the Phoenix portrait have been altered and were first painted a little lower within the outline of the face, and the present blue-tinted background of the Pelican portrait was earlier than a purple one which had been painted on top of it, but had been removed.

History

In 1801, the portrait was recorded at

, in Wiltshire, in the possession of John Howard, 15th Earl of Suffolk,

David Starkey Dr. David Robert Starkey (born 3 January 1945) is a British historian, radio and television presenter, with views that he describes as conservative. The only child of Quaker parents, he attended Kirkbie Kendal School, Kendal Grammar School b ...

, Susan Doran, ''Elizabeth: The Exhibition at the National Maritime Museum'' (National Maritime Museum, 2003), p. 192 and there was an unreliable Howard family tradition that Queen Elizabeth had given it to his family.'Queen Elizabeth I: The Pelican Portrait', called Nicholas Hilliard ()
National Museums Liverpool, 1998, archived by archive.org 16 April 2014, accessed 28 December 2020 It passed by descent through the Earls of Suffolk to Margaret Howard, Countess of Suffolk, who in 1930 sold it to

Spink & Son Spink & Son (established 1666) is an auction and collectibles company known principally for their sales of coins, banknotes and medals. They also deal in philatelic items, wine and spirits, and other collectible items. History John Spink foun ...

for a collector, Alderman E. Peter Jones. He gave it to the

, in 1945. Jones, of Chester, had been managing director of the Mersey Ironworks Company and a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

parliamentary candidate.''The Railway News'', Vol. 107 (1917), p. 172

Notes

{{Elizabeth I Oil paintings Portraits of Elizabeth I of England 16th-century portraits Paintings in the Walker Art Gallery