Queen Elizabeth I
- Artist: Unknown English artist
- Date: circa 1600
- Medium: oil on panel
- Dimensions: 50 1/8 in. x 39 1/4 in. (1273 mm x 997 mm)
- Portrays: Queen Elizabeth I
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
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About this artwork
This painting shows Queen Elizabeth I crowned, wearing the gold cloth of her coronation. Her hair is loose, as was custom for queens at their investiture, and she holds the orb and sceptre—symbols of her personal authority as regnant. The oil on panel was likely painted around 1600, long after her coronation in January 1559. Dendrochronology shows the wood comes from a tree felled after 1589. It probably copies a lost original from 1559 that showed the monarch in robes worn by her half‑sister Mary I five years earlier. A simple, hieratic pose makes the scene formal and unmistakable. This work may have been produced for one of the yearly celebrations of Elizabeth’s accession, which took place on 17 November throughout her reign.
See it in person
Queen Elizabeth I is in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery at St Martin's Place, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
