History of ELIZABETH I'S PORTRAIT | What did Elizabeth I look like when she was young? Tudor History

Hello

history

lovers and welcome or welcome back to the channel where I bring you new videos every week about all aspects of the past today on the

history

call we are

look

ing at one of my favorite

portrait

s of Elizabeth, the first one you see here, this is one. one of the few images of her before she became queen and unlike many other images of her, it is not a copy of a lost original or a paint-by-numbers advertising image created from a standard template, it is the real painted image from life while Elizabeth was still just a child using original sources dating back to the 16th century.

I'm going to take you through the almost 500 year history of it from the creation of it to the inheritance of it by multiple generations of the royal family and

what

happened to it

when

Charles was the first art collection. of which the painting was only a small part, was seized, crumbled and sold by Oliver Cromwell after the king's execution in 1649. We will see

what

happened to it after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and learn how it may have escaped to one of the largest fires ever to hit a royal palace in 1698. I will also explain what the stance of Elizabeth's clothing and accessories tell us about her, why some believe her necklace was inherited from her mother and Berlin, and I will reveal what has ultimately become of this beautiful image of the once and future queen, this knee-length

portrait

of the

young

Elizabeth was probably painted around 1546 for her father Henry VIII, although some earlier commentators thought it was created by Hans Holbein, who He died in 1543, in fact the timing and style of tells us that the artist was probably the Dutch painter William Skrotz whom Henry had hired in 1545.

It was created using oil paints on a wooden panel and measures 108.5 centimeters by 81 .88 stylistically matches this image of Elizabeth's

young

er half-brother Edward VI and the Royal Collection Trust, which now

look

s after the paintings, claims that the same tree probably supplied the wood for both and that they were created as a pair, which which further helps narrow down the range of dates they were probably made, as we can see in the Hunsden House in the background of Edward's painting and we know he was there from May to July 1546. He is also featured in his quality of prince of the wheels and not of king.

That jewel around his neck shows the Prince of Wales as a crown and feathers, so the portrait of Elizabeth was created. at the same time, both must predate the death of her father in January 1547. Elizabeth stands with her body turned slightly to the right and gazes intently at the viewer. She wears a crimson dress over a linen robe. If you look closely, you can make out the border of this robe at her neckline plus a matching French hood over a gold bonnet. The silhouette of her dress is a classic mid-rise style with a huge square neck that hangs over the sleeves and a circle skirt.

The fabric which may be silk has a woven pomegranate pattern. on it and the small lines of gold paint are there to suggest the presence of gold threads running through it. Her sleeves and petticoat are made of this super expensive and luxurious silver fabric woven with gold. This type of fabric was reserved by law for only royalty and its use makes a clear statement about Elizabeth's ancestry despite the fact that she had been officially illegitimate since the age of two

when

her father annulled her marriage to her mother. and belin and executed his ex-wife, in fact Elizabeth had never regained the title of princess after this point and, although she is commonly referred to as such in all stages before becoming queen, in fact her official title between 1536 and 1558 was that of Lady Elizabeth in 1546, however, Henry had placed his daughter and her elder sister, Mary. her back into the line of succession and perhaps that's why she felt confident enough to wear such an ostentatious dress.

Her sleeves are also cut in white and again we can see her white linen robe peeking through the red hair she inherited from Henry. It is on display with stripe. in the middle of her and we can also see the dark brown eyes that she shared with her mother. Then we have her jewelry. The upper abilma of her hood is adorned with clusters of pearls alternating with circular golden buttons set with what appear to be black gemstones. The lower abilma. The hood features individual pearls that alternate with golden beads, this sequence is replicated on Elizabeth's necklace, which also has a large golden pendant containing a black stone on a red one and with three pearls hanging below it.

It has been speculated that this necklace without the pendant was inherited from her mother and that it is the same pearl necklace seen in Anne's famous bee portrait so called because in those images the queen wears a necklace with a pendant b I have a full video dedicated to necklace b that I leave linked on the screen and below for you, but I will say here that I think it is impossible to prove that these pearls came from Anne and that they were not alternated with gold beads either. If you like the b necklace, you can buy replicas with your own initial of course, and I also left links for some options in the description box, returning to Elizabeth, although moving down slightly in the painting, we see a large brooch with diamond shape pinned to the front of her dress, just below the neckline, with a black cross. set in enamel or gemstones, it is difficult to be sure from this image and with three other pearls suspended below, her sleeves are studded with rectangular golden arches set with black stones similar to those on her hood and neckline, and she also wears on al minus four golden rings that are again set with black stones, although not all of his fingers are visible.

Elizabeth had famously long fingers, as you can see in this glove she once had and she was proud of them and this painting allowed her to show them off as her eyes. They seemed to have been a trait inherited from her mother. When the Victorians unearthed Anne's arms, they commented on her long, delicate fingers. Watch my video on how to unearth Anne Boleyn for more details. I'll leave it linked on the screen and below for you. Additionally, Isabel's final piece of jewelry is her jeweled belt, as is the decoration around her neckline and hood, the section that wraps around her waist is made up of clusters of pearls that alternate with black stones set in gold before change to gold and what it looks like could be.

It will be black and white enamel as it falls down the front of her dress. In her hands Elizabeth is holding a book decorated with gold corners and with two pages marked by a piece of paper and in one of her fingers there is another book open on a stand behind her The Royal Collection Trust website suggests that these are the Old and New Testaments framing his face and shoulders. We can see the curtains on her bed given the reputation she had throughout her life for her intelligence and great learning. She was multilingual, for example, and she used to do it. translations for fun, this performance makes sense, she is showing her father how seriously she takes her studies and that she is worthy of being the daughter of a man who, despite all his flaws, was no slouch when it came to to academic learning or the use of your dormitory.

As a study, David Starkey says we shouldn't read too much into this saying in his book, Elizabeth links below that peace and quiet were hard to find in early Tudor homes and that bedrooms were made to serve many purposes. Her father's illustrated book. Psalms, for example, also shows him reading in his bedroom, although he had study libraries and cupboards galore, so now that we have examined the subtext of the painting, let's look at its history from the mid-1540s to modern times, but just before doing it. If you are enjoying this content, remember to like this video and subscribe to the channel with notifications turned on so YouTube will notify you when I upload it.

You can also follow me on Instagram, which is linked in the description box, okay? Returning to the painting, she first appears in the royal inventories in 1547 at the beginning of the reign of Edward VI, where she is described as citing the image of the Lady Elizabeth, graceful of her with a book in her hand, going like a crimson fabric. End of quote, it was Then, hanging in the Palace of Whitehall, interestingly, we have a letter that Elizabeth wrote to her brother on May 15 of an unknown year during Edward's reign in which she refers to a painting of her the same one I had sent him.

This letter is not generally believed to refer to the painting studied in this video, however, since we cannot be sure of the exact year of creation of the painting or the letter, there is a possibility that it could be either way, it provides a fascinating insight into what the adolescent Isabel thought of the images of She herself told her brother that I refer to my painting in which if the good inner mind towards His Excellency could be declared as one sees the external face and countenance , I would not have delayed in fulfilling the commandment, but would have prevented it nor would I have been the last great but the first to offer it by the face, I admit, I could well blush when offering it, but I will never be ashamed to present the mind, because although By the grace of the image the colors can fade over time, it can give you the weather, it can be seen by chance.

However, neither time with its swift wings will reach nor the misty clouds with its lorings will darken nor will the songs with its slippery foot demolish and, furthermore, I will very humbly beg Your Majesty that when you look at my portrait you will take it for granted. Think that so As you have nothing but the outer shadow of the body before you, my inner mind desires that the body itself be often in your modest and safe presence. Elizabeth is saying that she may not be a great beauty, but she knows her worth when it comes to her intelligence and that will never fade the same way a painting of a picture might.

The painting of the red dress eventually returned to Elizabeth's possession when she became queen and we caught a glimpse of it at the end of her reign when it was discovered in 1598. By a man called Paul Hensner who still hangs in Whitehall Palace, he described it like a quote from 16 year old Queen Elizabeth, who is a little older than she actually was when this painting was made, but as I said before, the itching in these old portraits can be very difficult to judge, there is also a possibility that Hensner was looking at a different image if we accept that Elizabeth sent another of her to Edward at some point during her reign, but given that we hear no mention of multiple solo portraits of the young Elizabeth.

I think this was the only one left in royal hands. Elizabeth died in 1603 and her distant cousin James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne and her possessions along with it, including the portrait of her as a teenager in 1613. She was apparently seen in Whitehall by the visiting Duke of Saxvymar, who called Queen Elizabeth as she was when she was young again. It would be nice to have a little more information to continue here just to be sure it is the same painting, but given its location and the limited number of known paintings. photographs of her before she was queen, she was most likely looking at the portrait in her red dress.

James died in 1625, after which his son became King Charles. The first Charles amassed an incredible collection of art during his lifetime and in 1639 he was curated by the Dutchman Abraham Vanderdort. compiled a catalog of the royal paintings of Whitehall in which we obtain a clear reference to this painting that to this day bears the monogram cr of charles on its back in reference to the time in which it was the owner at that time it was hanging in the wall of the palace's private gallery and van der Dourt, having mistakenly identified it as a holbein, described it as the image of Queen Elizabeth as a young woman dressed in a waist-length red habit and holding a blue book in both hands and another book on the table in a painted gilt frame on five foot by four foot board there are a couple of things that are interesting in this description first take a look at the book that Elizabeth is holding, it doesn't look blue to me which makes me suspect that the Colors of the painting have altered over time, second, the painting is described in terms of waist when it is clearly approximately three quarters long and Elizabeth even holds the book below her waist since it is obviously the same image we see today Nowadays, I think Vanderdort is just using the phrase waist-high to describe an image in which Elizabeth's legs are missing.

I wish I had been a little more precise, although the given dimensions of five by four feet also don't match the modern measurements I gave. centimeters before, but measuring three and a half by two point six feet, however, this could be because Van der Dort included freedom in his calculations. The only other explanation would be that the painting was cut at some point after he saw it. However, I think this is unlikely because if it had been larger in 1639 it would have included Elizabeth's fate and Van der Dourt would not have said that it went to waste;

There would also probably be some evidence of tampering or a paper trail explaining whathad happened, its supposed twin, the portrait of Edward VI was enlarged, for example, and then reduced, and those facts are well known. We have another reference to the painting about a decade after Vanderdort's description, thanks to Carlos Israel's disastrous end. In January 1649, when he was also executed at White Hall after being deposed by the Parliamentarians under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, his possessions were inventoried and sold, including the image of Elizabeth in this inventory. She is described as Princess Isabel, then Isabel the first and us. he is said to have been summoned into the custody of Mr.

Henry Brine on September 8, 1649 Private Lodging and Private Gallery Whitehall, although the description is brief, there is no reason to doubt that this is the same image that Vander Dort saw in the private gallery a decade earlier. It was sold on 23 October 1651 to someone called Jackson for £10 where the painting went to him. In the following years we do not know, but after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, when Charles, the first son of Charles II, took The throne, quickly returned to royal hands, as we have a reference that it was back in Whitehall, in the second private room of An inventory from 1666 of how it left Whitehall palace is unknown, but that palace burned in 1698 and Unlike many other famous works of art lost at the time, the painting did not catch fire with him, so perhaps it had been moved. before that or was successfully rescued from the building before the fire reached it, in any case, at some point it migrated to Windsor Castle, where we can see it literally in 1819 in a picture of the king's former state bedroom published in a book which looks at royal residences, you can see it here on the wall of Windsor Castle, it has stayed, you can't film inside the building, but it is now in the Queen's drawing room, alongside photographs of Elizabeth's brothers and father and others royals, you can see it. there, if you visit, I hope you enjoyed this story of one of Elizabeth's first portraits.

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However, to learn more about Elizabeth, check out the My TutorMonarn series which has five videos dedicated to her life or if art history is your thing, try one of these other options, let me know in the comments below which one it is your favorite photo of Elizabeth the first and until next time keep learning.