Queen Elizabeth I

Sitterback to top

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

Artistback to top

• Unknown English artist. Artist associated with 10 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This portrait was painted to commemorate the most famous conflict of Elizabeth's reign, the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. It was originally of the same horizontal format as two other known versions of this painting. Here we can see the scenes behind the Queen showing, on the left, the English fire ships setting out in clear, calm weather and on the right the Spanish fleet being wrecked off the dark, rocky coast of Scotland or Ireland. Elizabeth's hand rests on a globe, her fingers over the Americas, indicating England's dominion of the seas and expansion into the New World.

Linked publicationsback to top

• Clare Gittings, The National Portrait Gallery Book of Elizabeth I, 2006, p. 22
• Cooper, Tarnya; Fraser, Antonia (foreword), A Guide to Tudor and Jacobean Portraits, 2012, p. 34
• Gittings, Clare, The National Portrait Gallery Book of The Tudors, 2006, p. 24
• MacLeod, Catherine, Tudor and Jacobean Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery Collection at Montacute House, 1999, p. 14
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 200
• Strong, Roy, Tudor and Jacobean Portraits, 1969, p. 103

Subjects & Themesback to top

• Carpets and textiles
• Jewellery
• Montacute House
• Transport and vehicles