UNSEEN ELIZABETH
It shows the seemingly timeless Tudor queen in a whole new light – a woman, weakened and lined by age and staring uneasily into an uncertain future. It is a vivid reminder that time really does wither us all.
Elizabeth I remains one of our most iconic monarchs. Indeed, during her lifetime, her image was a carefully crafted construct, that of the virgin queen wed only to God and the unselfish service of her nation. In fact, unflattering portraits of her were forbidden by law. But this rarely seen portrait, painted by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, c. 1595, and currently on display in the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC, reveals a dramatically more vulnerable and realistic side to this resplendent figure.
She looks tired, uncertain – human. Normally an otherworldly figure in her portraits, the painting offers a glimpse behind the crown, a snapshot of a woman in her 60s who had faced and seen off religious conflict, rebellion and the Spanish Armada – only to be confronted by the greatest foe of all: mortality.
Elizabeth I remains one of our most iconic monarchs. Indeed, during her lifetime, her image was a carefully crafted construct, that of the virgin queen wed only to God and the unselfish service of her nation. In fact, unflattering portraits of her were forbidden by law. But this rarely seen portrait, painted by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, c. 1595, and currently on display in the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC, reveals a dramatically more vulnerable and realistic side to this resplendent figure.
She looks tired, uncertain – human. Normally an otherworldly figure in her portraits, the painting offers a glimpse behind the crown, a snapshot of a woman in her 60s who had faced and seen off religious conflict, rebellion and the Spanish Armada – only to be confronted by the greatest foe of all: mortality.