Sir Thomas Coningsby

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Sir Thomas Coningsby

by Unknown artist
oil on panel, 1572
37 in. x 27 1/2 in. (940 mm x 699 mm)
Purchased, 1964
Primary Collection
NPG 4348

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

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

This portraitback to top

Coningsby is shown in this portrait engaged in the sport of falconry. In his left hand he holds the falcon's hood, and in his right he swings the lure in order to encourage the bird, flying overhead, to return to him. The fragmentary inscriptions in Latin and Italian suggest that falconry in this portrait symbolises youth and indiscipline versus maturity and control.

Linked publicationsback to top

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1572back to top

Current affairs

Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk is executed for his part in the papacy-backed Ridolfi Plot to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I.
The French prince Francis, Duke of Anjou becomes a potential candidate as Elizabeth I's husband as Parliament makes repeated calls for an heir.
Sir Francis Drake plunders Spanish treasure in the West Indies and returns to Plymouth with his spoils the following year.

Art and science

Miniature of Queen Elizabeth I painted by Nicholas Hilliard.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Matthew Parker publishes De Antiquitate Britannicae Ecclesiae (Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Britain), which charts the history of Christianity in Britain from the apocryphal arrival of Joseph of Arimathea.
Birth of the poet and playwright Ben Jonson.
Birth of the metaphysical poet and churchman John Donne.

International

St Bartholomew's Day Massacre of French Protestants (known as Huguenots) takes place in Paris. Under the orders of the queen mother Catherine de Medici and Henry, Duke of Guise, the Huguenot leader Admiral Gaspard de Coligny and thousands of his supporters are killed.
Dutch Protestant privateers (known as Sea Beggars) capture the port of Brill, which becomes the first stronghold of the Dutch revolt against Spainish rule.

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