Elizabethan Portrait Symbolism
If you look closely you can learn a lot about the person in a portrait. How the person poses, which setting he used and which symbols were used in the portrait can tell you a lot about the portrayed person and his characteristics . Elizabethan portraits are full symbols, especially Elizabeth's . I will now list some main symbols that were used.
- Pearls: sign of high status and purity
- dogs: showed faithfulness, greyhound was the Tudor dog
- celestial: controlled by passion , but also refers to heavenly beings
- crown: royalty
- sword:justice and in case of Elizabeth's portraits it meant that she would defend her country at all costs even though she is ruling peacefully
- cherries: sign of virginity
- olive branches: peace
- gloves: elegance
- serpent: wisdom
- Tudor rose: refers to Tudor dynasty and shows the unity that was created( between House of York and House of Lancaster), religious connotation->refers to Virgin Mary and was also used to allude that Virgin Queen was Virgin Mary's secular successor
- Sieve: symbol of purity and virginity
- Ermine: royalty, an ermine would rather die than to soil it's pure coat
- ruby: symbolizes that Queens heart and passion are controlled by wisdom
- colors black, red, gold: expensive to produce, symbol of status, by using a lot of red they are also referring to the defeat of Spanish armada( Spain was trading red dye)
- pelican: symbolizes love, a myth says that a pelican mother would rather pluck her own chest to feed her children and would die in the process of protecting them, presents herself as the mother of the country and that she would suffer for her people, also referred to Christ sacrifice
- Phoenix: mythological that never dies, consumed by fire after 500 years and then reborn,symbol of resurrection and eternal life, only one phoenix lives at a time, shows Elizabeth's uniqueness and
THE RAINBOW PORTRAIT
by Isaac Oliver and Nicholas Hilliard around 1600
The Rainbow portrait is the most elaborate portrait of her. She is wearing a orange- reddish cloak decorated with eyes and ears which means that she sees everything but also showing that with becoming the Queen her private life was nor secret anymore. Her Hair is frizzed and formed into a heart shape. It is decorated with a headdress full of pearls and jewels which stand for purity and high status. Over her headdress you can see her crown which stands for royalty. Around her cloak she is wearing a kind of celestial robe which makes her look like a heavenly being but also shows that she is controlled by her passion. Her cloak is also embroidered with green jewels which stands for goddess and she has a serpent with a heart shaped ruby in it's mouth on her arm. The serpent stands for wisdom and the ruby in it's mouth symbolizes that her passion and heart are being controlled by wisdom. She is also holding a rainbow in her hand and over it is says 'NON SINE SOLE IRIS' in Latin which means 'NO RAINBOW WITHOUT SUN'. Considering she was in her late 60's when the portrait was made she looks like she is not aging making her look immortal( hiding all of the wrinkles and skin problems under the white face paint)
ERMINE PORTRAIT
by Nicholas Hilliard, 1585
The setting in the Ermine portrait is rather dark. The background, the little table to her right and her dress are in black,which shows wealth and high status, Black was one of the colors that were expensive to produce. The same with the gold decoration on the dress. She is also wearing the three brothers jewel. On the table next to her is a sword which stand for justice. But in Elizabeth's case, because she tired her hardest to rule the country peacefully, it also says that she she is prepared to defend and fight for her country. On her arm you can see an ermine which is a symbol of royalty. This little ermine is also wearing a little crown, which also stands for royalty.
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