Pictures of Elizabeth

I am certainly no artist and frankly I find it difficult to analyse art, rather I prefer to appreciate it largely at face value. However, I will attempt to analyse now.

I have found two pictures of Elizabeth that I want to talk about. The use of pictures in teaching can be very powerful. Images tell a thousand words as the saying goes. The trick with teaching is to encourage the students to think about what the picture is trying to depict. Before the explosion of media in the modern world pictures, especially portraits, were the primary means of propaganda. So we cannot afford to take them purely at face value.

The first picture is the so called Armada Portrait, painted in or just after 1588 to celebrate the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The portrait shows Elizabeth in all her majesty and greatness, both beautiful and awe inspiring. Behind her, out of the windows, can be seen the Armada being defeated by the English Navy and by the storms. This shows English naval power and the belief that God is on England's side, her cause is righteous and Godly. In the bottom left, Elizabeth's hand rest on a globe. This symbolises the international reach of Elizabethan power. In 1588 such a depiction is optimistic and misleading at best, but the very fact it is there shows the growing international and worldwide pretensions of England and the English monarchy.

The second picture is called the Rainbow Portrait and was painted in 1600 only 3 years before the queen died. At this point Elizabeth is in her 60's. The picture does not show this, instead it shows Elizabeth as essentially ageless. Realistic pictures of Elizabeth towards the end of her reign are hard to find, if they even exist. It is this agelessness that I wanted to mention.

Other points to note are that the fashions have changed in the intervening 12 years. The first picture shows some very ornate and uncomfortable looking clothes. The second photo, whilst no less ornate, shows clothing that is more comfortable. Perhaps this is a sign of my age, as well as a sign of Elizabeth's age. Nevertheless, both show something of the extravagance of Elizabethan fashion.

Finally, in the second painting Elizabeth is depicted wearing a very low cut dress, or at least the section between the neck ruff and the breast line is of a very thin and transparent material. Perhaps this is where the myths of Elizabeth wearing dresses that exposed her breasts came from. Apparently, exposed breasts were a sign of virginity and Elizabeth was the "Virgin Queen" for whom the state of Virginia in the USA is named.