Nicholas Hilliard, "Portraits of Elizabeth I & Robert Dudley" (1575)
On Nov. 25th, Bonham’s auction house in London will be auctioning off a pair of miniatures painted by 16th C. English artist Nicholas Hilliard of Elizabeth I and her lover (?) Robert Dudley. It seems though that they were commissioned by Elizabeth not as a celebration of their romance, but rather to mark its ending. From the Telegraph:
That summer he (Dudley) threw an extravagant 19-day party for her at his home, Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire, in what some historians have seen as a last-ditch attempt to win her hand. Lombardi, an expert in miniatures, said: “Whether these were something to do with that, or were a gift to him because she knew it was all over, we will never know.”
Both Elizabeth I and the Earl of Leicester were patrons of the artist, Nicholas Hilliard, described by Lombardi as “the father of miniatures”. They were painted using watercolours on vellum, the skin of an unborn animal, and would originally have formed part of a piece of jewellery.
Bonhams described them as “a remarkable survivor from the Tudor period .”To hold in the palm of your hand a pair of portraits that would have undoubtedly rested in the palm of the hand of the Queen of England five centuries ago is an extraordinary feeling.” They are being sold by Eleanor Hamilton, a collector of miniatures, who bought them in 1970.
Link to the full article here or link here to the press release from Bonham’s.
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