Painting of Queen Elizabeth I - the Armada Portrait

Painting of Queen Elizabeth I - the Armada Portrait - on sale

An unknown artist painted one of the best-known portraits of Queen Elizabeth I in the Armada Portrait (circa 1590). It celebrates the British navy’s 1588 victory over the Spanish fleet, the Spanish Armada. Sir Francis Drake first owned the painting, and it remains in the possession of his descendants.

Those descendants have decided to sell the painting, one of three versions of the portrait. The British museums and the Art Fund announced on Monday 23 May 2016 that they have started a campaign to raise ten million pounds ($14.5 million) to buy the painting and ensure that it returns to Britain. The Royal Museums Greenwich and the Art Fund are leading the campaign.

It is a beautiful portrait of the bejewelled queen in front of two seascapes; one of the English fleet preparing for battle, and the other of the defeated Spanish Armada. Her right hand rests on a globe. Christine Riding, the head of arts at Royal Museums Greenwich, said ‘It is the painting that represents everything about the Elizabethan age, including Shakespeare, the moment when England began to rule the waves, and Elizabeth’s reign … the queen as a strong and just woman.’

The painting will be on display at the National Maritime Museum during the pre-sale period. If the funding campaign is successful, the portrait will be relocated to the Queen’s House on the site of the original Greenwich Palace where Elizabeth I was born. The other two versions are in the Woburn Abbey and the National Portrait Gallery.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/arts/design/campaign-underway-to-save-a-queen-elizabeth-portrait.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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