THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

This week I visited the National Portrait Gallery with the rest of my class to see the Tudor Portraits. When there we were asked to look through the Elizabethan Portraiture and find an image that visually engages you. I then had to look for symbolic references within the portrait and talk about what the clothing says about the sitter. I also had to identify physical characterists such as age, social class, influences and personality type.
Once home I was to research the image and find out who the person was and why they were sitting for the image. Also finding out if the symbolic references I found were correct. I think this was a good way to challenge how I look at portraiture and to test my knowledge.

Elizabeth Queen of Bohemia 1596-1662
by Robert Peake the Elder


The portrait that visually engaged me was the one of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia. Without reading the text that was near explaining about the portrait I began to look at it and really examine it. Firstly the portrait stood out to me because the women looked really young and beautiful, she also reminded me of Queen Elizabeth I with her pale complexion and structured hair. I loved her clothing with the lace trim around her neck and hair, her dress looked covered in tiny beads and jewels and she had a small jewel head piece. All of these characteristics indicate wealth and to me she looked like an important person. The fact her hair was quite structured and her makeup and clothing looked pristine says to me that she is very prosperous. I think she definitely took influences from Queen Elizabeth as her style is very similar and makeup almost exactly the same, I like that fact she was inspired by her with her own twist. She looks alot more delicate and pretty than Elizabeth I did.


The symbolic references I took from the portrait was that she looked miserable and sad, like she wasn't really happy behind the scenes of the painting. The bags under her eyes make her look really tired and almost drained of life. Her dress looked very structured and stiff making her look like a doll. The encrusted jewels on her dress and jewels hanging across her shows wealth and the lace around her neck and hair makes her look very royal as delicate lace like that is very expensive.






Researching the sitter

After Researching the sitter I found out te portrait was painted by Robert Peake the Elder who was an English painted who was active in the later part of Queen Elizabeth I reign. Elizabeth was the only surviving daughter of James I. In 1613 she married Frederick, Elector Palatine, the ruler of the Palatinate, an are of present day Germany. In 1619 following a rebellion against the Catholic Hapsburg rulers, Frederick accepted the throne of Bohemia making Elizabeth the Queen of Bohemia. He and Elizabeth were expelled after less than a year, however in one of the early battles of what became known as the Thirty Years War. Living in exile in the Hague, Elizabeth came to be seen as an ideal Protestant heroine, although in reality she had little power and less money. Her large family of children included Prince Rupert and Princess Sophia the mother of George I.

Ref- National Portrait Gallery