The Art Fund and Royal Museums Greenwich recently launched a campaign to save the Armada Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I for the public. The painting has been held privately by the descendants of Sir Francis Drake for centuries.
Last week it was announced that the portrait of the virgin queen had been saved for the public.
With help from a £7.4m Heritage Lottery Fund grant, 8,000 public donations totalling £1.5m, and major contributions from the Linbury Trust, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Headley Trust, to reach the target of £10.3m, the portrait will now be in public ownership for the first time in its history.
Christine Riding, the head of art and curator of the Queen’s House at Royal Museums Greenwich, explains the significance of the acquisition.
Why was it so important to save the Armada Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I?
The attempted invasion of England by Philip II of Spain was the greatest crisis of Elizabeth I's reign. This painting celebrates the English victory against the Armada in the summer of 1588 and the queen's successful defence of her realm and a powerful assertion of her right, as a female monarch, to rule.
More than that, it is an acknowledged masterpiece of the English Renaissance and over time has come to represent not only the specific event it commemorates but the entire Elizabethan Age, from Drake and Raleigh to Shakespeare and Nicholas Hilliard, and of course the iconography of Elizabeth herself as Gloriana and the Virgin Queen.
The portrait may have been commissioned or owned by Sir Francis Drake, who was second in command of the English fleet against the Armada. His descendants have owned it from at least 1775 when it was first recorded at the family seat at Shardeloes in Buckinghamshire.
What does this mean for Royal Museums Greenwich?
It is difficult to overstate how transformative the acquisition of this iconic work of art is for Greenwich. The portrait encapsulates the idea of England, and then Britain, as an emerging maritime and imperial power.
It dramatically evokes aspects of national identity, such as the English as an island race and a maritime people, that were entrenched for centuries to come.
Furthermore, Elizabeth herself was born at Greenwich Palace in 1533, which was a major royal residence under the Tudors.
It was from Greenwich that Elizabeth signed the death warrant of Mary Queen of Scots in 1587 and where she and her councillors planned the nation's defence before and during the Armada crisis. One of the museum's sites is the Queen's House, which is the only remaining building of the 16th and 17th century palace.
Are there plans for research and conservation of the painting?
The painting is over 425 years old and is a large-scale oil painting on oak panels. It is fragile and has a discoloured layer of varnish. We are planning a conservation project that will build on the technical analysis on the Armada portrait that was completed in 2015 as part of the Making Art in Tudor Britain research project conducted by the National Portrait Gallery, London.
We are hoping that the research and conservation work will not only stabilise and visually enhance the portrait, but also help us uncover who the artist might have been.
We know that the painting is English school, probably under the direction of either George Gower, the Sergeant Painter to the Queen, or Nicholas Hilliard, the Royal Limner (miniaturist). We think the conservation project will take six months.
When will it go on show to the public?
Prior to the conservation project, the Armada portrait will go on display from October 2016 to January 2017 in the Queen's Presence Chamber of the Queen's House, Greenwich.
The Queen's House reopens to the public after a major refurbishment on 11 October 2016, as part of our celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary since its commission by Anne of Denmark and its design by Inigo Jones in 1616.
Last week it was announced that the portrait of the virgin queen had been saved for the public.
With help from a £7.4m Heritage Lottery Fund grant, 8,000 public donations totalling £1.5m, and major contributions from the Linbury Trust, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Headley Trust, to reach the target of £10.3m, the portrait will now be in public ownership for the first time in its history.
Christine Riding, the head of art and curator of the Queen’s House at Royal Museums Greenwich, explains the significance of the acquisition.
Why was it so important to save the Armada Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I?
The attempted invasion of England by Philip II of Spain was the greatest crisis of Elizabeth I's reign. This painting celebrates the English victory against the Armada in the summer of 1588 and the queen's successful defence of her realm and a powerful assertion of her right, as a female monarch, to rule.
More than that, it is an acknowledged masterpiece of the English Renaissance and over time has come to represent not only the specific event it commemorates but the entire Elizabethan Age, from Drake and Raleigh to Shakespeare and Nicholas Hilliard, and of course the iconography of Elizabeth herself as Gloriana and the Virgin Queen.
The portrait may have been commissioned or owned by Sir Francis Drake, who was second in command of the English fleet against the Armada. His descendants have owned it from at least 1775 when it was first recorded at the family seat at Shardeloes in Buckinghamshire.
What does this mean for Royal Museums Greenwich?
It is difficult to overstate how transformative the acquisition of this iconic work of art is for Greenwich. The portrait encapsulates the idea of England, and then Britain, as an emerging maritime and imperial power.
It dramatically evokes aspects of national identity, such as the English as an island race and a maritime people, that were entrenched for centuries to come.
Furthermore, Elizabeth herself was born at Greenwich Palace in 1533, which was a major royal residence under the Tudors.
It was from Greenwich that Elizabeth signed the death warrant of Mary Queen of Scots in 1587 and where she and her councillors planned the nation's defence before and during the Armada crisis. One of the museum's sites is the Queen's House, which is the only remaining building of the 16th and 17th century palace.
Are there plans for research and conservation of the painting?
The painting is over 425 years old and is a large-scale oil painting on oak panels. It is fragile and has a discoloured layer of varnish. We are planning a conservation project that will build on the technical analysis on the Armada portrait that was completed in 2015 as part of the Making Art in Tudor Britain research project conducted by the National Portrait Gallery, London.
We are hoping that the research and conservation work will not only stabilise and visually enhance the portrait, but also help us uncover who the artist might have been.
We know that the painting is English school, probably under the direction of either George Gower, the Sergeant Painter to the Queen, or Nicholas Hilliard, the Royal Limner (miniaturist). We think the conservation project will take six months.
When will it go on show to the public?
Prior to the conservation project, the Armada portrait will go on display from October 2016 to January 2017 in the Queen's Presence Chamber of the Queen's House, Greenwich.
The Queen's House reopens to the public after a major refurbishment on 11 October 2016, as part of our celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary since its commission by Anne of Denmark and its design by Inigo Jones in 1616.
