The
Ditchley Portrait painted c. 1592 by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger.
This picture was painted for
Sir Henry Lee in honour of Elizabeth's visit to his house at Ditchley near
Oxford in September 1592. Lee had fallen out with Elizabeth when he had taken
anne Vavasour as amistress some years earlier. The visit shows his return to
favour.
Some interesting
features of the picture include:
Elizabeth herself
Elizabeth was actually 59 when this portrait was painted, in
fact she is painted to look younger. However, there are signs of ageing, bags
under her eyes, occasionaly lines on her chin and forehead. By this stage she
has lost her teeth and thus her mouth is extremely small.
Elizabeth's is painted with an extremely thin
waist which may well be flattery but also represents the fashion of the
times.
It is worth pointing out that
she (and her council) were keen to encourage the idea of the young and
beautiful virgin queen and that this fiction sustains her control of her court
and thus of her people.
Clothing
Elizabeth
is wearing a white dress, symbolising purity/virginity. The pearls with which
it is decorated are also a symbol of purity and virginity. This could lead to a
consideration of her marital status - it is not fanciful to suggest that she
was considered both by herself and her subjects to be married to her country -
at least this was the impression she took pains to create.
Elizabeth is dressed up for the occasion - the
dress alone would have cost around £1/2 million pounds today according to
National Portrait Gallery sources. Normal attire was apparently a loose,
dressing gown type robe.
Notice that
there is a pink rose on the collar of her ruff, this in general terms is a
symbol of beauty but can also be seen as a representation of the House of
Tudor.
In her hands Elizabeth holds
gloves and a fan. It has been suggested that these link to the weather in the
background e.g. gloves in left hand for stormy weather and fan in right for
sunny/hot weather.
The
Background
At her
feet
Elizabeth is standing on a
map showing the counties of England and precisely on Ditchley. The fact that
she is standing on the map of England is a representation of her as ruler. In
the wider sense the map of England is painted on a globe, representing her
worldwide influence, possibly claiming imperial stature.
The surrounding sea contains images of sea
monsters and ships. This is not an unusual representation at this time but it
has been thought that in this painting these are also intended to refer to the
Armada and to the adventures of English explorers.
The Sky
On the right of the picture are storm clouds while to the left
the sky has sunshine. Elizabeth faces the good weather symbolising her success
as a ruler, the defeat of the Armada and the current settled state of the
country following the turbulence of earlier years. It has also been suggested
that this represents the end of her anger with Sir Henry and his return to
favour.
The
Painting
It is also worth noting
that the painting is not seen as it was originally painted. At some time the
painting has been cut down at the edges, presumably to fit into a smaller
space. This can be seen by looking at the writing on the right hand side.
The visible words of the first two
lines begin:
The Prince of light,
The source by whom...
Of hearts the
glorye and of earth the...
The
general theme seems to be of Grace, light, glory, and power and appear to be a
comparison of heaven and earth - presumably a comparison of God in heaven and
Elizabeth on earth.
Origins
of the verse - I would be interested to know where these words come from
and whether they are a well known piece of work or were created for the
portrait. I will update these pages with any information if I find out, or if
someone contacts me with a
source.
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