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| New portrait of Elizabeth I, Bonhams |
Today I learned that this newly discovered and hitherto unrecorded portrait of Queen Elizabeth I is going on sale at Bonhams on 4th December.
Workshop of Steven van der Meulen (?Antwerp -circa 1564 London)
Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, three-quarter-length, wearing a black dress embroidered with gold, an ermine-trimmed surcoat, a white ruff trimmed with gold and a pearl-encrusted headdress, holding a red rose in her left hand and a gold chain in her right hand, which rests on an embroidered cushion
oil on panel
96.6 x 74.2cm (38 1/16 x 29 3/16in).
What do we know about Queen Elizabeth's portraits? Later in her reign, painters and
miniaturists were forbidden to show the real likeness of the Queen, depicting
her instead as the iconic, changeless and radiant Virgin Queen. Elizabeth hated
posing for portraits, and “the natural representation of Her Majesty” was
forbidden from being painted directly from life.1 Instead, one officially
approved face pattern was produced and inserted into all subsequent portraits.
Posing for a portrait took up to three or four hours if the artist was skilled
in his craft; the Queen preferred her ladies-in-waiting to be dressed and
styled, pretending to be her, instead of sitting in one pose for hours on end.
1. George Lillie Craik, The Pictorial History of England, p. 550.
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