Elizabethan Costume Review

A searchable database of 103 Elizabethan portraits and costume images, with 39 reviews.

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	Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton Artist: John de Critz Date: 1603 Because of his involvement in the abortive Essex rising in early 1601 the sitter in this portrait, the Earl of Southampton, was condemned to death. Fortunately the sentence was not carried out. Instead he was imprisoned in the Tower of London until the old Queen died in 1603 and the new Scottish king came south to take over. This portrait dates from that period and either commemorates Southampton's time in the Tower, or was painted as a mute appeal to James to release him. In fact, Southampton was freed very soon after James' accession. Southampton wears the clothes of a fashionable gentleman. They're rich but noticeably less flashy than is usual in his portraits. Ostentatious display is not suitable for a man in such misfortune. He still wears his hair in his trademark style though, long and loose. He has a falling band edged with lace, and shallow turned-back shirt cuffs also lace-edged. The thing most of us tend to notice first is not his clothes but the cat sitting behind him. There is a pretty legend that this was Southampton's favourite cat, and that when he was imprisoned it found its way to the Tower and joined him. But personally I prefer the suggestion of the late Lesley Hotson that the cat is there not as a pet but as a symbol. To the Elizabethans a cat stood for the desire for liberty, since cats, as any cat owner will tell you, have zero tolerance for closed doors. And if the cat is symbolic there's a fair chance everything else in the picture is freighted with hidden meaning too. The fortress visible on the right of the picture is presumably the Tower: the inscription in Latin refers to Southampton's imprisonment, proclaiming 'In vinculis invictus', 'In chains but unconquered'. A book lies behind him, its ribbons untied. He has stripped off one glove so we are treated to a view of his left hand, dramatically pale against a dark ground, bare but for a single small ring and what appears to be a string of rubies round the wrist. Why? What do the rubies signify? And as for the ring - it has an irregular outline and appears flat and dark. I think it may be a mourning ring. These often had hexagonal bezels with a death's head mounted in the centre. If it is, then taken together with the sombre clothes and expression I would bet money there is a reference to the dead Essex here. When James became king he would speak sentimentally of Essex as 'my martyr', because though they never met Essex had been secretly writing to James for years. But Essex burned their correspondence before he was arrested and there was little mention of the Scottish king at his trial. Just as well. Elizabeth would not have taken kindly to the thought that her dear cousin of Scotland was so impatient for her crown that he'd been in cahoots with a rebel. Review by gilgilis \| Login or Signup to add a review.
	Mary Fitton (?) Artist: unknown Date: 1600 I'm rather baffled by this costume. I assume it belongs to the fancy-dress category of masquing costumes - I mean, I can't imagine a woman wearing that very odd head-dress on any normal occasion. It looks as if it's been influenced by prints on foreign costume, like the famous painting of the so-called 'Persian Lady'. But if the sitter is MallFitton, I am also puzzled by the jewels she is wearing. The seed-pearl attire looks entirely suitable, as the maids of honour wear something similar in the Peake painting of the Blackfriars procession (elsewhere on this site). But the collar and the pendants pinned to the front of her stomacher - surely these are pretty expensive items? I can't see the daughter of provincial gentry actually owning pieces like these. They are very up-to-the-minute and fashionable; not the sort of enamelled gold 'story' pieces that were going out of style at the turn of the century, but jewels in which the settings are subsidiary to the stones. They look more like the style of jewel favoured by Elizabeth's successors. Review by gilgilis \| Login or Signup to add a review.
	Elizabeth in procession to Blackfriars Artist: In the style of Peake Date: 1600 This picture records a very prestigious society event. It shows Elizabeth's visit in 1600 to the chic residential district of Blackfriars for the wedding of her maid of honour, Anne Russell, to Henry Somerset, Lord Herbert. Although white was by no means the established bridal colour at this period, on this occasion both bride and groom appear to have worn it. Lord Herbert is generally identified as the man in white gesturing towards his future bride Anne, who is also dressed in white and following the royal litter. The litter is not what it seems, incidentally. Described by a contemporary as a 'curious chair', if you look carefully you can see it is being pushed along by the Yeoman of the Guard immediately behind: hence the looks of graceful unconcern among the noblemen who appear to be carrying the Queen but are actually just bearing her canopy. John Chamberlain, the same man who mentioned the 'curious chair' refers to this wedding as 'the great marriage' because the groom was a son of the Earl of Worcester and the bride's mother was an aunt of Sir Robert Cecil. The wedding supper was held at the nearby residence of Lord Cobham, who walks immediately in front of the Queen bearing a ceremonial sword. Elizabeth was 67 but the painting of course makes no concessions to time, showing her as youthful and serene. She is wearing the same jewelled head tire as she wears in the 'Ditchley' portrait, and as in that she wears long hanging sleeves, although she appears to be the only woman wearing them here. Most of the ladies in the picture have adopted the modish turn-of-the-century hairstyle in which the hair rises steeply from the forehead in a kind of beehive shape. The queen, like other ladies without closed ruffs, has a ruched tube of fabric, a kind of gauzy caterpillar, tucked round the neck next to the collar. Review by gilgilis \| Login or Signup to add a review.
	Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury (Bess of Hardwick) Artist: Rowland Lockey (?) Date: 1590 - 1599 In a reproduction of this portrait in Diana Scarisbrick's book 'Tudor and Jacobean Jewellery', it looks as though Bess is also wearing a full-length (sleeveless?) gown over her doublet-top and skirt. Everything is in the same fabric, which does look to be fine black velvet. She must have appeared a very commanding lady, and the black really sets off those amazing pearls. Scarisbrick comments that 'the pearls worn by Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury, with her widow's weeds are the sign of a great lady and of the huge wealth she accumulated through four marriages'. She adds that when Bess separated from her fourth husband he asked for the return of some gifts he had given her but Bess flatly refused, saying they were mere trifles 'for so great a nobleman to bestow on his wife of nineteen years'. The portrait is dated 1592, and as Bess was born in 1516 she must have been 76. So, the hair is probably a wig. But at least Bess, being a widow, could adopt more becoming and dignified clothes in her last years: unlike the Queen, who was permanently stuck with a style more suited to unmarried girls. Review by gilgilis \| Login or Signup to add a review.
	Sir Henry Lee Artist: Antonis Mor van Dashorst Date: 1568 Tying things on your arm with red cords: I just noticed an account of a quarrel between Sir Charles Blount and the Earl of Essex in the late 80s. The quarrel started because Essex saw Blount wearing a favour given to him by the queen, and got jealous. Blount was wearing the favour very ostentatiously on his arm, tied with a red riband. I think this suggests that the jewels Sir Henry Lee is wearing here, tied with red cords, are probably valued gifts from the Queen as well. Review by gilgilis \| Login or Signup to add a review.

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