I know I’m way late with this, but better late than never!
News release from The National Portrait Gallery:
MYSTERY SNAKE REVEALED IN ELIZABETH I PORTRAIT. NEW RESEARCH SHOWS CHANGING FACES OF THE TUDOR QUEEN
Scientific detective work has revealed a mysterious coiled serpent in the hands of Queen Elizabeth I, which was painted out by the artist shortly afterwards, in a portrait at the National Portrait Gallery. It has also been revealed that this portrait of the queen, which has not been on display at the Gallery since 1921, was painted over an unfinished portrait of an unknown sitter. The revelations about this painting and three others of the Tudor queen will form a new display, Concealed and Revealed: The Changing Faces of Elizabeth I, from 13 March at the National Portrait Gallery as part of the Making Art in Tudor Britain project led by Dr Tarnya Cooper.
…
Concealed and Revealed: The Changing Faces of Elizabeth I runs from 13 March – 26 September 2010 in Room 2 of the National Portrait Gallery.
Additional articles:
Art Daily: New Research: Mystery Snake Revealed in Elizabeth I Portrait
BBC: Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I reveals secret snake
The Daily Mail Online: The Queen’s loyal serpent: 400 years on, a painted-over snake reappears on portrait of Elizabeth I
The Guardian: Portrait of Elizabeth I reveals she held serpent where a posy now appears
The Independent: The Virgin Queen, the serpent and the doctored portrait
What fun! I first heard of this a few days ago (it was tweeted by Barb Alexander (a.k.a. “tudortutor” on Twitter if you get inclined to follow) and I’ve been following it pretty closely.
I can totally see why the artist panicked and changed it at the last minute. So cool!
The first thing I thought when I saw that was “Don’t Tread on Me.” But she wasn’t American, so I guess not….
wickid man!!!!!!!