Queen Elizabeth I

Sitterback to top

• Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), Reigned 1558-1603. Sitter associated with 125 portraits.

Artistback to top

• Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619), Miniature painter. Artist associated with 33 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This remarkable picture is Hilliard's earliest known miniature of the queen, painted when she was 38 years old. It may be the portrait that the artist describes painting in his treatise, The Arte of Limning, in which he relates recommending to the queen an 'open light' for miniature painting, with no shadow, for which he says she chose to sit in 'the open alley of a goodly garden, where no tree was near'. The reverse of the playing card (which is no longer visible) is documented as using the figure of a queen.

Linked publicationsback to top

• Clare Gittings, The National Portrait Gallery Book of Elizabeth I, 2006, p. 18
• Cooper, John, Great Britons: The Great Debate, 2002, p. 32
• Cooper, Tarnya; Fraser, Antonia (foreword), A Guide to Tudor and Jacobean Portraits, 2012, p. 12
• Piper, David, The English Face, 1992, p. 51
• Rogers, Malcolm, Master Drawings from the National Portrait Gallery, 1993 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 5 August to 23 October 1994), p. 23
• Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery: An Illustrated Guide, 2000, p. 44
• Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery, 1997, p. 44
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 200
• Strong, Roy, Tudor and Jacobean Portraits, 1969, p. 101
• Walker, Richard, Miniatures: 300 Years of the English Miniature, 1998, p. 16

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

• Tudor Miniatures (From 6 November 2004)

Portrait setback to top

• Miniatures: Highlights

Subject/Themeback to top

• Miniatures