Elisabeth I - Armada Portrait

Armada Portrait

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Artist Formerly attributed to George Gower Year 1588 Type Oil on Oak Panel Location Woburn Abbey

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Painting Description

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Link the definitions

Match each details (1-6) to its significance (a-g).

a. Her power and enlightenment.

1. Pearls and bows

2. Imperial crown and hand on the Globe

b. Her virginity and pureness

c. The English Empire all over the world

3. The Marmaid

d. England as a seafaring power

4. Suns decorating sleeves

OBSERVE How different are the two small seascapes in the background? Why is Elisabeth placed between them?

WONDER Search and answer the following questions

• Is this portrait a convincing representation of power? Why/why not?
• Think of other portraits of royal figures, or search the web to identify a few. Is the representation of power always so symbolic and powerful? Why?

Now prepare your own Genially to analyze this Portrait or even an other of Queen Elisabeth I

Upright posture and open arms gaze all speak of vitality and strength. Even though she was already 55, there are o signs of age or illness on her face, although she had suffered from smallpox in her youngth. What is most interesting about the Armada Portrait is how it combines her femininity with masculinity. Red, a masculine color, is on the ribbons, something that is feminine (Melikoğlu). The large size of the dress could represent the idea of the King’s two Bodies, which is the idea that a monarch has both a physical body and a spiritual one. The dress also gives the queen a distinctly feminine silhouette with wide shoulders, a long, narrow waist, and full hips with a narrow, white face. She appears young and beautiful despite being in her late fifties. The queen is thus both masculine and feminine, powerful and virginal, a mighty queen and a demure woman. That she never married and wears her virgin status proudly shows that she does not need any man that she is indeed above them. The Armada Portrait shows this beautifully. She uses masculine symbols to show her power while using feminine ones to remind everyone that her true power comes from her womanhood and her virginity.

The Armada Portrait (1588)

Unknow English artist (formely attributed to George Gower) Wosborn Abbey

The new Empress of the worldThe portrait is known as the " Armada Portrait" because it commemorates the English Victory in 1588 against the Spanish Invincible Armada. Queen Elisabeth I is portrayed as Empress of the world and commander of the seas and the whole picture is a statement of power and authority.