Lost picture of young Queen Bess found after 450 years
A portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, completed just months after she came to the throne, has been found in a dusty and dirty condition in a country house in East Sussex.
Elizabeth became queen 450 years ago next month. The picture shows her as a simply dressed woman in her mid-twenties with a pale face. It is a far cry from later portraits where she is depicted in full regalia after defeating the Spanish Armada.
Its discovery is being hailed by historians because only two other portraits of Elizabeth in the first few years of her reign are known to exist. There are many from later in her reign, including 10 in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Even more tantalising is that x-rays of the painting have revealed another, earlier picture of the queen beneath.
“The assumption is that the artist – and we do not know who he is – did an initial portrait, and either he or the queen did not like it,” said Philip Mould, a London art dealer who now hopes to sell the portrait for £350,000...
Read entire article at Times (UK)
Elizabeth became queen 450 years ago next month. The picture shows her as a simply dressed woman in her mid-twenties with a pale face. It is a far cry from later portraits where she is depicted in full regalia after defeating the Spanish Armada.
Its discovery is being hailed by historians because only two other portraits of Elizabeth in the first few years of her reign are known to exist. There are many from later in her reign, including 10 in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Even more tantalising is that x-rays of the painting have revealed another, earlier picture of the queen beneath.
“The assumption is that the artist – and we do not know who he is – did an initial portrait, and either he or the queen did not like it,” said Philip Mould, a London art dealer who now hopes to sell the portrait for £350,000...