The portrait that visually engaged me is the one of the Queen Elizabeth I, known as "The Ditchley portrait", made by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger. It was made in oil on canvas.
This portrait was produced for Sir Henry Lee, whio had been the Queen's champion from 1559-90. It probably commemorates an elaborate symbolic entertainment which Lee organised for the Queen in September 1592, and which may have been held in the groubnd's of Lee's house at Ditchley, near Oxford, or at the nearby place at Woodstock.After his retirement in 1590.
The portait shows Elizabeth standing on the globe of the world, with her feet on Oxfordshire. The stormy sky, the clouds parting to reveal sunshine,and the inscriptions on the painting make it plain that the portait's symbolic theme is Forgiveness. The sun represented there is the symbol of the SUN.
Looking at her clothes we can notice some particular elements which are symbolic. For example the angel wings around her head means that she is sent from God. The rose on her neckband symbolise youth and it is flowering and blossoming like the queen. She also wears very expensive jewels that only the first class people could wear. The white dress symbolise the purity. The queen is holdin a fan in her arms that only the rich had. In her left hand she is holding a glove that was worn by officers, so it shows the military strength.
I was partucularly affascinated by this portrait because of the clothing, the location and especially because of the small dettails which I thought could express many symbols of that era.
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