National Portrait Gallery

National Portrait Gallery

Today I traveled to London to view the National Portrait Gallery to obverse the 16th Century art of the Elizabethan era. When I got to the gallery I started to analyses the paintings too really get an idea of the traditional dress, make-up and hair that was not only 'Queen Elizabeth 1st'  but other famous Tudor men and women. I was there to study these paintings and to gather inspiration to be able to create my own modern day Elizabethan look with elements of traditional looks. 

All the paintings I saw where very beautiful and an image of Henry the eighth really caught my eye as it portrayed a very strong and powerful emotion. In the image the Kings legs are wide apart and he is stood tall and proud, therefore to me portraying the image of a powerful leader which he was. The image also him wearing an abundance of gems and jewelry which may represent the fact that he was a very wealthy man which he would want to show off in his painting which is further highlighted by him wearing the colour gold. Gold was a rich mans colour and also means success, triumph and achievement. In this painting to the left I found it very interesting because most painting of the wealthy women they had bright bold colours in their clothing to represent them as powerful and strong women. Instead in this painting the colours are much more pale and subtle. This makes the mood of the image appear more calm and delicate which is maybe which it is trying to portray. Her face is framed by a beautiful lace collar which again is very delicate and this is further shown with the pearl decorated in her hair. Queen Elizabeth 1st would wear pearls in her paintings to show her virginity as pearls symbolize the idea of purity and therefore by having pearls is to inform people that their bodies are pure. I have analysed that a lot of the women when they are older where their hair up on top of their heads, I believe this again is to represent them being seen as more mature because the Tudor women would only have her hair down at special events like a wedding or coronation to show them being young and pure to show again their virginity.  

 

 In this painting of the young 'Queen Elizabeth 1st' we can see that the point I made about wearing their hair down is represented in this painting as she was a young women here at her coronation. We can also see the style of painting has changed and that to some people they may not like this painting as it look more like an unrealistic image of the Queen. The face of the new Queen is very pale in this image to show her as a wealthy figure because her pale completion shows she is not of working class. I really like this image as she appears the most natural in this image as this is her at the beginning of her ruin therefore in other painting you can see how she has adapted to the role of being a true leader of England even only through her looks.  

 Later, on that day after analyzing and collecting helpful images and information we went around London and to look around the Illamaqua and MAC stores which where amazing as I could collect and buy more make-up for my kits to help with my project and to get some for MYSELF, of course. Overall, the day out was very useful to help with my project and by looking into the background to these image I hope I can really capture the true image of the Elizabethan image in my modern look. 

By Amelia Richmond-Knight