Queen Elizabeth I

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Queen Elizabeth I

by Elkington & Co, cast by Domenico Brucciani, after Maximilian Colte
electrotype, 1873, based on a work of circa 1605-1607
38 in. (965 mm) long
Purchased, 1872
Primary Collection
NPG 357

Sitterback to top

  • Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), Reigned 1558-1603. Sitter associated with 138 portraits.

Artistsback to top

  • Domenico Brucciani (1815-1880), Sculptor. Artist or producer associated with 23 portraits.
  • Maximilian Colte (active 1596-1641), Sculptor. Artist or producer associated with 3 portraits.
  • Elkington & Co, Sculptors. Artist or producer associated with 22 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This electrotype is a copy from the upper part of the white marble tomb effigy in Westminster Abbey. It is one of a series of electrotype reproductions of tomb effigies made for the National Portrait Gallery by Elkington & Co in the 1870s. An electrotype sculpture of this type is made by electro-deposition of copper onto a mould or cast of an object. The electrotype could then be patinated like bronze. Elizabeth is portrayed as queen, with the crown, orb and sceptre. Sculpted after her death, the stark realism of the features of the sculpted portrait suggests that the effigy was probably based on a death mask. The royal regalia have been damaged in the original monument and this is replicated in the electrotype copy.

Linked publicationsback to top

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Events of 1605back to top

Current affairs

The Gunpowder Plot is foiled when Guy Fawkes is discovered with barrels of gunpowder under the House of Lords. The coup, to blow up the House at the State Opening of Parliament, thereby assassinating James I, was conceived by a group of Catholics angered by the king's repression of recusants.

Art and science

In the first of many collaborations with architect Inigo Jones, playwright Benjamin Jonson presents The Masque of Blackness for James I's, in which Queen Anne makes an appearance. The production secures future masque commissions for Jones and Jonson at court.
Philosopher, Francis Bacon, publishes his treatise The Advancement of Learning.

International

Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes publishes the first part of his satirically romantic novel Don Quixote.
Within a matter of months, three popes would ascend the papal throne, Clement VIII, Leo XI, Paul V respectively.

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