The Phoenix Portrait of Elizabeth I, by Nicholas Hilliard. At NPG London.
Just a few stories this week, especially compared to the last couple of weeks!
* Tudor portraits to be restored at National Portrait Gallery – The images in this article are wrong, both show one of the versions of the Armada Portrait, but the description is of The Phoenix portrait which I would be very interested to see with the yellowed varnish cleaned up. I’ve put an image of the Phoenix portrait at top.
* Chris Skidmore discussed the Battle of Bosworth (subject of his new book that I now have in my hot little hands!) on the BBC History Extra podcast. Look for the June 6th episode.
* The Royal Collection asks – Who is the Man in Red?
And finally…
More people have taken pity on those of us outside the UK and have put the latest programs of the BBC2 Tudor Court Season up on YouTube:
* The Most Dangerous Man In Tudor England
* The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England Episode 2 – The Rich
Who is the man in red? My guess would be a member of the Hapsburg family. Take a look at the jaw…very distinctive. Perhaps Charles I of Spain, Holy Roman Emperor as a young man?
Satan?
Seriously, though, the background looks a little unusual to me. Three-quarter and lifesize paintings of the period that we see in all the Tudor books usually depict the personage in a room or an interior staging that helps “site” them symbolically, with the other objects in the room acting as helpful references to the wealth, prestige, learning, sexual status/likely fertility, religious affiliations and lineage of the subject. There are certainly “outdoors” portraits of the period, like Titian’s Emperor Charles at Muhlberg, that show a landscape behind the central figure, but I can’t remember a Tudor picture 1530-1550 that has an exterior background. I could be wrong, though.
I hadn’t quite put my finger on what seemed different about it, but yeah, the background isn’t typical for that era. Thanks Foose, that was kind of bugging me!
Tracey – I don’t think the underbite is strong enough for Charles, especially if you zoom in and look just at his mouth and jaw. The chin is distinct, but I wouldn’t say Hapsburg level, at least for the more extreme ones. Possibly a Hapsburg relative?
Who knows? It’s an interesting mystery!
Per Robert Stedhall’s 2017 Mary Queen of Scots’ Downfall, the Man in Red is “thought to be Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox [Darnley’s father]. The hilt of the sword depicts a Scottish thistle.” If you’re interested, the book features much analysis of Darnley’s skull.