Queen Mary I

1 portrait

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Queen Mary I

by Unknown artist
oil on panel, 1597-1618
22 1/2 in. x 17 3/4 in. (572 mm x 451 mm)
Purchased, 1974
Primary Collection
NPG 4980(16)

Sitterback to top

  • Queen Mary I (1516-1558), Reigned 1553-58; daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. Sitter associated with 50 portraits.

Artistback to top

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

This portraitback to top

This portrait of Mary I is based on paintings made during her lifetime by the Flemish artists Hans Eworth (active 1540-74) and Anthonis Mor (1516-75/6). Their compositions were widely reproduced in both paintings and prints. This painting has been executed in a smooth, refined way. The gold jewels have been painted with a pigment called lead-tin yellow. Tree ring dating indicates the wood used for the panel was felled sometime after 1585.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Smartify image discovery app
  • Bolland, Charlotte; Cooper, Tarnya, The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered, 2014 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 12th September 2014 to 1st March 2015), p. 120
  • Cannadine, Sir David (Introduction); Cooper, Tarnya; Stewart, Louise; MacGibbon, Rab; Cox, Paul; Peltz, Lucy; Moorhouse, Paul; Broadley, Rosie; Jascot-Gill, Sabina, Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits, 2018 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA, 7 October 2018 -3 February 2019. Bendigo Art Gallery, Australia, 16 March - 14 July 2019.), p. 39
  • Cooper, Tarnya, Elizabeth I & Her People, 2013 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 10 October 2013 - 5 January 2014), p. 13
  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 416

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Events of 1597back to top

Current affairs

Philip II of Spain launches another armada against England. As in 1588, the fleet is dispersed by a storm, which is celebrated as divine intervention.
Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex is made Earl Marshall.
Charles Howard, Baron Howard of Effingham is created Earl of Nottingham.
King James VI of Scotland (later James I of England) publishes Daemonologie, an attack on witchcraft that incites a fever for witch-hunts.

Art and science

William Shakespeare writes The Merchant of Venice.
The musician John Dowland publishes The First Booke of Songes or Ayres, the most successful music publication of the period.

International

Philip II of Spain opens peace negotiations with Henry IV of France after his army in the Spanish Netherlands fails to defeat the forces of France or the Protestant United Provinces of the northern Netherlands.
The Japanese ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi launches a second invasion of Korea.

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