Queen Elizabeth I (Frontispage to Compendiosa totius anatomie delineatio, ære exarata / per Thomam Geminum)

© National Portrait Gallery, London

1 Like voting
is closed

Thanks for Liking

Please Like other favourites!
If they inspire you please support our work.

Buy a print Buy a greetings card Make a donation Close

Queen Elizabeth I (Frontispage to Compendiosa totius anatomie delineatio, ære exarata / per Thomam Geminum)

by Thomas Gemini
line engraving, mid 16th century
13 3/4 in. x 9 1/2 in. (349 mm x 242 mm) paper size
Given by the daughter of compiler William Fleming MD, Mary Elizabeth Stopford (née Fleming), 1931
Reference Collection
NPG D25026

Sitterback to top

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

Artistback to top

  • Thomas Gemini (active 1540-1562), Engraver, printer and instrument maker. Artist or producer of 1 portrait.

Events of 1530back to top

Current affairs

The Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey is arrested for treason after failing to secure the annulment of Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. He dies at Leicester Abbey on his way from York to the Tower of London.
Thomas Cromwell becomes a member of the King's Council.

Art and science

The Frisian mathematician and cartographer Gemma Frisius publishes De Principiis Astronomiae Cosmographicae (On the Principles of Astronomy and Cosmography). It features the first description of how longitude could be determined by means of time difference.

International

The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V is formally crowned by Pope Clement VII and invested with the Kingdom of Naples.
The Augsburg Confession is presented to Charles V. Written by the German theologian Philip Melanchthon, this statement of Protestant belief is one of the principal documents of the reformation.
The Florentine Republic is defeated by the forces of the Holy Roman Empire and the Medici family restored to power.

Comments back to top

We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.

If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.

Prof. Norman Jones

25 September 2016, 03:59

This is the title page of the book, published in 1559, (after June of 1559 because of the titles he gives Elizabeth). It is identical to the title page of the 1545 edition, except that a portrait of Elizabeth has been substituted for Henry VIII's arms. The title page of the 1553 edition, dedicated to Mary I, has Mary's arms. Only this edition has a portrait of the dedicatee.

Here is the bibliographic entry in the Short Title Catalog:
Compendios a totius anatomie delineatio, aere exarata: per Thomam Geminum
Author: Vesalius, Andreas, 1514-1564,
Other authors: [H]Geminus, Thomas, d. 1562,
Mondeville, Henri de, 14th cent.
Imprint: Londini : [J. Kingston for T. Gemini], 1559.
Date: 1559
Bib name / number: STC (2nd ed.) / 11718
Physical description: [124] p., plates
Notes: Sometimes erroneously attributed to Geminius and Vesalius. The first Latin edition was a plagiarism of Vesalius, with plates copied from Vesalius by Geminius. This English edition, however, was derived from Henri de Mondeville. Cf. "The Library", XIII (1932), p. 367-94.
Another issue, with canceled dedication and colophon leaf, of STC 11716, a variant, edited by Richard Eden, of STC 11715.5.
Printer's name from STC. Publisher's name from colophon.
The title page is engraved.
Signatures: pi4 A6 B C-I6 K2 (-C1?, lacking).
Reproduction of the original in the Cambridge University Library.
Copy from: Cambridge University Library
UMI Collection / reel number: STC / 1486:08