The National Portrait Gallery’s Elizabeth I and Her People exhibition explores the story of the Elizabethans, charting the rise of the middle classes and an early meritocracy, while shining a light on some of the more intimate details of life during the period.
The portraits have been gathered from a wide variety of personal collections and institutions, including Sherborne Castle, Hatfield House, the British Library, the Victoria and Albert Museum, British Museum and the Museum of London.
The portraits are given more depth by the inclusion of carefully selected objects, costumes and archives.
Power dressing
Social class is used to divide the exhibition into sections: from Elizabeth I through to working people and the poor. The main space is dominated by portraits of the nobility and gentry, revealing one theme running through the exhibition, namely the display and communication of status, privilege and power through fashion.
Core themes are reflected in the quotes in each section, such as Shakespeare’s “For the apparel oft proclaims the man” in the main gallery.
Some paintings reveal the subject’s proximity to the Queen, including a portrait of Robert Devereux with the Queen’s glove tied to his arm, which shows his affection for Elizabeth. A miniature of Robert Dudley reveals her affection for someone else, as it is one of the portraits the Queen may have carried with her.
Other images show the reality of life – and death – in Elizabethan England. The portrait of Edward, 3rd Lord Windsor, his wife and children reflects domestic life, with one of the children holding a guinea pig.
The death of one-year-old John Dunch highlights child mortality, while the beautifully restored tomb sculpture of financier Piero Capponi marks his death, at 32 years, from the plague, and is poignant alongside portraits of surgeons, a developing profession of the time.
The information accompanying each portrait is concise and considered, providing memorable facts for visitors to share later. It often invites visitors to ponder in more detail what is being shown.
Symbolism
There is a gentle introduction to the use of symbolism in portraits, showing, for example, how the “stoat in a winter coat” in Nicholas Hilliard’s portrait is used as symbol of the chastity of the Virgin Queen.
Later, the use of portraits as political statements is highlighted, such as the inscribed frame of a soldier’s portrait calling for financial rewards for those who “watch and ward for you”.
More than 100 objects give additional depth to the overall experience. Artefacts have been placed so that visitors can easily link them to the portraits.
The only surviving complete Elizabethan wheel-lock pistol sits opposite its painted counterpart, which is held by navigator Martin Frobisher and adds a real-life dimension to the soldier’s portrait.
Other works in the exhibition add context, such as Frans Hogenberg’s painting of the Royal Exchange, which allows visitors to place the merchant classes from their portraits into the physical setting of their developing success.
Portable cards expand on key themes such as fashion and give more detail on specific exhibits. The exhibition catalogue is available for people to browse and the curator’s preface is worth reading for those who are pressed for time.
Modern parallels
Overall, the exhibition takes an understated approach to the Elizabethan era, choosing to let the portraits and artefacts speak for themselves.
The core themes have been carefully selected and reveal different aspects of Elizabethan society such as social mobility, the fragility of power, privilege and status, and the near-invisibility of the working classes.
Themes addressing social and economic divisions such as gender, class and race are implicit.
The inclusion of only one person of colour – Abd el-Ouahad ben Messaoud ben Mohammed Anoun, Moorish ambassador to the Queen – could have been an opportunity to discuss race in Elizabethan England, drawing perhaps on the inclusion of black characters in Shakespeare’s plays.
Equally, a portrait of Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, emphasises her transition from daughter of a Derbyshire gentleman to “one of the richest women in England”.
But the fact that she could only achieve this via marriage goes unremarked, as does the emphasis on the reputed chastity of the Virgin Queen.
These themes also point to similarities with austerity Britain and the social, economic and political divisions that still exist. The exhibition shows how Elizabeth’s nobility and gentry populated Parliament and the House of Lords, just as a high proportion of millionaires are to be found in today’s government.
Has the National Portrait Gallery has missed a trick in not making such links more explicit? The absence of a contemporary parallel does not make Elizabeth I and Her People any less enjoyable, and is clearly not the point of the exhibition.
But as most visitors seem to be white and middle class (during my visit at least), employing this stunning array of exhibits to highlight continuing social divisions might help reach a wider audience.
Sarah Cheverton is a writer and researcher who has worked with organisations such as the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Aspex Gallery and Portsmouth Museums
The portraits have been gathered from a wide variety of personal collections and institutions, including Sherborne Castle, Hatfield House, the British Library, the Victoria and Albert Museum, British Museum and the Museum of London.
The portraits are given more depth by the inclusion of carefully selected objects, costumes and archives.
Power dressing
Social class is used to divide the exhibition into sections: from Elizabeth I through to working people and the poor. The main space is dominated by portraits of the nobility and gentry, revealing one theme running through the exhibition, namely the display and communication of status, privilege and power through fashion.
Core themes are reflected in the quotes in each section, such as Shakespeare’s “For the apparel oft proclaims the man” in the main gallery.
Some paintings reveal the subject’s proximity to the Queen, including a portrait of Robert Devereux with the Queen’s glove tied to his arm, which shows his affection for Elizabeth. A miniature of Robert Dudley reveals her affection for someone else, as it is one of the portraits the Queen may have carried with her.
Other images show the reality of life – and death – in Elizabethan England. The portrait of Edward, 3rd Lord Windsor, his wife and children reflects domestic life, with one of the children holding a guinea pig.
The death of one-year-old John Dunch highlights child mortality, while the beautifully restored tomb sculpture of financier Piero Capponi marks his death, at 32 years, from the plague, and is poignant alongside portraits of surgeons, a developing profession of the time.
The information accompanying each portrait is concise and considered, providing memorable facts for visitors to share later. It often invites visitors to ponder in more detail what is being shown.
Symbolism
There is a gentle introduction to the use of symbolism in portraits, showing, for example, how the “stoat in a winter coat” in Nicholas Hilliard’s portrait is used as symbol of the chastity of the Virgin Queen.
Later, the use of portraits as political statements is highlighted, such as the inscribed frame of a soldier’s portrait calling for financial rewards for those who “watch and ward for you”.
More than 100 objects give additional depth to the overall experience. Artefacts have been placed so that visitors can easily link them to the portraits.
The only surviving complete Elizabethan wheel-lock pistol sits opposite its painted counterpart, which is held by navigator Martin Frobisher and adds a real-life dimension to the soldier’s portrait.
Other works in the exhibition add context, such as Frans Hogenberg’s painting of the Royal Exchange, which allows visitors to place the merchant classes from their portraits into the physical setting of their developing success.
Portable cards expand on key themes such as fashion and give more detail on specific exhibits. The exhibition catalogue is available for people to browse and the curator’s preface is worth reading for those who are pressed for time.
Modern parallels
Overall, the exhibition takes an understated approach to the Elizabethan era, choosing to let the portraits and artefacts speak for themselves.
The core themes have been carefully selected and reveal different aspects of Elizabethan society such as social mobility, the fragility of power, privilege and status, and the near-invisibility of the working classes.
Themes addressing social and economic divisions such as gender, class and race are implicit.
The inclusion of only one person of colour – Abd el-Ouahad ben Messaoud ben Mohammed Anoun, Moorish ambassador to the Queen – could have been an opportunity to discuss race in Elizabethan England, drawing perhaps on the inclusion of black characters in Shakespeare’s plays.
Equally, a portrait of Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, emphasises her transition from daughter of a Derbyshire gentleman to “one of the richest women in England”.
But the fact that she could only achieve this via marriage goes unremarked, as does the emphasis on the reputed chastity of the Virgin Queen.
These themes also point to similarities with austerity Britain and the social, economic and political divisions that still exist. The exhibition shows how Elizabeth’s nobility and gentry populated Parliament and the House of Lords, just as a high proportion of millionaires are to be found in today’s government.
Has the National Portrait Gallery has missed a trick in not making such links more explicit? The absence of a contemporary parallel does not make Elizabeth I and Her People any less enjoyable, and is clearly not the point of the exhibition.
But as most visitors seem to be white and middle class (during my visit at least), employing this stunning array of exhibits to highlight continuing social divisions might help reach a wider audience.
Sarah Cheverton is a writer and researcher who has worked with organisations such as the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Aspex Gallery and Portsmouth Museums
Project data
- Cost undisclosed
- Supported by Weiss Gallery
- Curator Tanya Cooper
- Exhibition adviser and catalogue contributors Ian Archer; Andrew Hadfield; Lena Cowen Orlin; Susan North; Jane Eade
- Exhibition design Jude Simmons; Aaron Jones
- Set build DHA Lighting Design
- Exhibition ends 5 January 2014
- The National Portrait Gallery offers free entry to Museums Association members
