6 OF 33

Sir Walter Ralegh

6 of 33 portraits by Nicholas Hilliard

Sir Walter Ralegh

by Nicholas Hilliard
watercolour on vellum, circa 1585
1 7/8 in. x 1 5/8 in. (48 mm x 41 mm) oval
Purchased with help from The Art Fund and the Pilgrim Trust, 1959
Primary Collection
NPG 4106

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Sitterback to top

Sir Walter Ralegh (1552-1618), Soldier, sailor, poet and writer. Sitter associated with 47 portraits.

Artistback to top

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

This portraitback to top

This appears to be the earliest portrait of Walter Ralegh, painted around the time he received his patent to colonize America. Tall, dark-haired and pale, Ralegh is fashionably dressed with a wide ruff that was popular in the 1580s and early 1590s.

Linked publicationsback to top

Tudor Portraits Resource Pack, p. 31
Cooper, John, A Guide to the National Portrait Gallery, 2009, p. 15
Cooper, Tarnya, Searching for Shakespeare (hardback), 2006 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 2 March - 29 May 2006), p. 189
Cooper, Tarnya, Searching for Shakespeare, 2006 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 2 March - 29 May 2006), p. 189
MacLeod, Catharine, Tudor Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery Collection, 1996, p. 31
MacLeod, Catharine (preface, appreciation) Wilks, Timothy (introduction) Smuts, Malcolm (appreciation) MacGibbon, Rab (appendix), The Lost Prince: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart, 2012 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 18 October 2012 to 13 January 2013), p. 149
Nicholl, Charles, Character Sketches: Elizabethan Writers, 1997, p. 50
Nicholl, Charles, Insights: Shakespeare and His Contemporaries, 2005, p. 95
Piper, David, The English Face, 1992, p. 55
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
Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 511
Strong, Roy, Tudor and Jacobean Portraits, 1969, p. 255
Walker, Richard, Miniatures: 300 Years of the English Miniature, 1998, p. 20