Queen Elizabeth I

1 portrait

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Queen Elizabeth I

by Unknown artist
oil on panel, early 17th century with 18th century overpainting
33 1/2 in. x 26 3/8 in. (851 mm x 670 mm)
Transferred from The British Museum, London, 1879
Primary Collection
NPG 542

Sitterback to top

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

Artistback to top

  • Unknown artist, Artist. Artist or producer associated with 6578 portraits.

This portraitback to top

The portrait of Elizabeth that can be seen at first glance was virtually all painted in the eighteenth century. Technical analysis has revealed that this image was painted over the top of an early seventeenth-century portrait, perhaps because of damage to the original portrait. Dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) indicates that the wood used for the panel was felled some time after 1604, just after the queen's death. Therefore the original portrait was posthumous, based on a pattern developed during Elizabeth's lifetime. The use of x-radiography has revealed that in the original portrait, the queen wore large decorative 'wings' wired out behind her back and a veil that fell down her back. This costume was particularly fashionable in the 1590s but must have been considered rather odd over a hundred years later and was painted out.

Linked publicationsback to top

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Events of 1600back to top

Current affairs

Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex is put on trial for failing to put an end to the rebellion in Ireland, attempting to negotiate a truce with the rebel leader Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and deserting his post.
Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, replaces Essex as Lord Deputy of Ireland.
The East India Company receives its Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth I.
Birth of Prince Charles in Scotland (later King Charles I).

Art and science

William Shakespeare writes Hamlet.
The scientist William Gilbert writes De magnete ('on the magnet'), which pioneers research into the properties of the lodestone (magnetic iron ore) and introduces the terms 'electricity' and 'magnetic pole'.
The miniature painter Nicholas Hilliard works on his painting treatise The Art of Limning at this time.

International

Henry IV of France marries Marie de Medici from the powerful ruling family of Florence, Italy.
The Italian astronomer, philosopher and mathematician Giordano Bruno is sentenced to death by the Roman Inquisition and burned at the stake for heresy.
Following the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu seizes control of Japan at the Battle of Sekigahara.

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