Love’s Labour’s Found: Elizabethan and Jacobean Portraiture

Beautiful exhibition at the Philip Mould Gallery of Elizabethan and Jacobean portraits.

This show had a wonderful selection of pictures both miniatures and full-scale works. They were shown with excellent descriptions detailing new research on the works. Small moan though that the labels were hard to read as they were places quite low in a low-lit room. They played havoc with my varifocals!

I was very touched to see tiny miniatures of Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley, about the size of a thumbnail. It seems likely these were commissioned by Dudley as it was unlikely anyone else would have dared to commission this pair. The Elizabeth was a less formalised version than we usually see. It was a nice hang to put next to a formal full-scale version of her in a Pelican and Tudor Rose dress.

There were five Hilliards in the show and an Isaac Oliver and these miniatures were clearly show with magnifying glasses provide. I was intrigued by  newly found Decourt of Henry III of France who sounds an interesting character I’d like to follow up on.

My favourite was a picture of a four year old dressed like an adult from 1595 from which this delicate detail was taken.

Closes 28 May 2021.

Review

Evening Standard


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