National Portrait Gallery

We went on a trip to London to the National Portrait Gallery and were told to choose one portrait in the Tudor section that we liked the most. I picked a portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots or Mary Stuart, who was Queen Elizabeth I’s cousin.

Information on the painting

Painter: Nicholas Hilliard

Date: Thought to be mid - late Sixteenth century

Size: 31 1/8 in. x 35 1/2 in. (791mm x 902mm)

Medium: Oil on Panel

In this portrait, she is shown dressed almost completely in black, with a black backround. She is also seen in the image holding a rosary and wearing a cross around her neck.

Mary was the daughter of James V of Scotland and ruled Scotland for seven years. She was later forced to give up the thrown to her only son, James I, and fled to England. She was later executed by Elizabeth I for treason. She was a devout Catholic and was often favoured by Roman Catholics in England over Elizabeth I, who was a protestant. This is most likely the reason for the cross and rosary in the portrait and is considered to be the reason behind the problems between her and Elizabeth, as she was thought to be involved in a plot against Elizabeth.

The information for the portrait states that the painting as once a part of the royal Collection and was most likely done while she was still alive, however this would have most likely been the time that she was under house arrest, so this may explain the darker colours in the image as the painter most likely wouldn’t have wanted her to look too royal due to the fact that she was seen as a threat to Elizabeth. The Latin inscription behind her actually says that she has been a prisoner for ten years. She also has her hair covered, showing a much more modest image of a member of the royal family to that is typically seen from this time.

The cross on her rosary, although it cannot easily be seen, has an "enamelled scene of Susanna and the Elders." (http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw04273/Mary-Queen-of-Scots?LinkID=mp02996&role=sit&rNo=3#description) The story of Susannah and the Elders is from the Book of Daniel in the Bible and is one of the parts of the Bible that is not recognised by the Protestants and is associated with Roman Catholicism, which as previously mentioned, was the religion that Mary belonged to. The Latin around this scene means "troubles on all sides", which could be seen as in reference to the divide between the Catholics and Protestants in England at the time.

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw04273/Mary-Queen-of-Scots?LinkID=mp02996&role=sit&rNo=3

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw04273/Mary-Queen-of-Scots?LinkID=mp02996&role=sit&rNo=3#description