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Lot Essay
The defeat of the Spanish Armada in July 1588 occasioned a new portrait of the Queen to celebrate the victory and the reflected glory that fell upon her as the vanquisher of the Catholic threat. This new and iconic 'Armada' portrait type, which took its place alongside eulogistic poems, pamphlets and engravings, and new coins celebrating the Queen and her victory, was to become one of the best known images of the Queen, showing her at a pivotal moment in her reign when the threat of foreign invasion loomed less large and the Queen's authority was reinforced.
Three principal contemporary versions of this celebrated 'Armada' portrait of the Queen are known: two in British private collections (see K. Hearn, Dynasties, catalogue to the exhibition at the Tate Gallery, 1995-6, no. 43, and R. Strong, op.cit, 1963, p. 74, no. 64), and one in the National Portrait Gallery, London (R. Strong, op.cit., 1963, no. 68). The latter is cut down but probably took the form of the others. The present portrait, which unlike the aforementioned portraits is painted on canvas, rather than on panel, is based on this 'Armada' type but would appear to be slightly later in date and most likely to have been painted at some point in the first two decades of the 17th century. The fact that the picture is on canvas, which was not widely used in England before the first decade of the 17th century, implies a date after 1600, although full-length English portraits of an earlier date on canvas are known, such as the celebrated full-length portrait of Captain Thomas Lee, which is dated 1594 (Tate Gallery; see Dynasties, op.cit. no. 120). Analysis of the pigments used in this portrait shows them to be consistent with an early 17th century date although not excluding an earlier date.
Unlike the three principal versions of the 'Armada' type, the present portrait is of a smaller format and does not include a direct pictorial reference to the defeat of the Armada itself. Queen Elizabeth I is shown in a richly embroidered dress lavishly adorned with pearls and jewels, with large sleeves and a large lace ruff that emphasises her magnificence and her authority as a powerful and victorious monarch. Rather than being shown flanked by scenes of the great naval victory, with her crown to her right and with her right hand on a globe, her fingers pointing to the Americas, alluding to her expanding domain across the Atlantic, here the Queen is depicted against a green curtain, with an ostrich plume fan in her left hand and holding a diamond pendant in her right hand.
The early provenance of the picture is not clear. It appeared in a sale at Christie's in 11 May 1894, sold by William Frederick Woolley 'removed from Pryor's Bank, Fulham'. Pryor's Bank, near Fulham Church, had been occupied at the beginning of the 19th Century by a modest house named Vine Cottage which was purchased by Walsh Porter who enlarged it and installed some highly theatrical decorations, to amuse visitors such as the Prince of Wales. It was later owned by Lady Hawarden and then by William Holmes, M.P., who sold it in 1834 to Thomas Baylis and Lechmere Whitmore who replaced it with a gothic revival house that they christened Pryor's Bank which reflected the nature of the collections assembled there of ecclesiastical carvings and objects, and furniture and pictures from the Tudor and Elizabethan periods. In its heyday in the 1830s and 1840s the house was the centre of lively society with an antiquarian and dramatic bent. It was put up for sale in 1841 but the house and collection remained in Baylis's possession. There was a further sale in 1854 and Baylis later retired to nearby Thames Bank House where Bonhams conducted an auction in 1875 after his death (11 August 1875). Pryor's Bank was pulled down in 1897.
The 1894 Christie's catalogue states that this portrait, then attributed to Zucchero, was 'given by King Charles I to Judge Twisden of Royden Hall, Kent, but there is no comment on the source of this information and no subsequent provenance or information on how and when it entered the collection at Pryor's Bank are given. The 'Judge Twisden' referred to is presumably Sir Thomas Twysden, Bt. (d. 1682), second son of Sir William Twysden, 1st Bt (d. 1628), of Bradbourne, Kent, who was a Judge of the King's Bench from 1660. The Twisden family were closely connected to the Stuart Court. Sir Thomas's father was part of the retinue that conducted King James I to London when he first came from Scotland, and was knighted by King James I in 1603 and created a Baronet in 1611. The gift of an image of Queen Elizabeth I from King Charles I would certainly have been an appropriate one as Thomas Twysden's grandfather, who was Sheriff of Kent, had played a prominent role at the time of the Armada as the Captain of a troop of Kentish gentlemen at the camp formed at Tilbury to oppose the anticipated Spanish invasion force, where Queen Elizabeth I had spoken to the troops as the Armada approached.
In the 1894 Christie's sale the picture was acquired by Charles Butler (1822-1910), of Warren Wood, who formed an important collection of Old Master pictures, the bulk of which was dispersed in a two day sale at Christie's on 25 and 26 May 1911. The present portrait has remained in the collection of Charles Butler's family until now.
Three principal contemporary versions of this celebrated 'Armada' portrait of the Queen are known: two in British private collections (see K. Hearn, Dynasties, catalogue to the exhibition at the Tate Gallery, 1995-6, no. 43, and R. Strong, op.cit, 1963, p. 74, no. 64), and one in the National Portrait Gallery, London (R. Strong, op.cit., 1963, no. 68). The latter is cut down but probably took the form of the others. The present portrait, which unlike the aforementioned portraits is painted on canvas, rather than on panel, is based on this 'Armada' type but would appear to be slightly later in date and most likely to have been painted at some point in the first two decades of the 17th century. The fact that the picture is on canvas, which was not widely used in England before the first decade of the 17th century, implies a date after 1600, although full-length English portraits of an earlier date on canvas are known, such as the celebrated full-length portrait of Captain Thomas Lee, which is dated 1594 (Tate Gallery; see Dynasties, op.cit. no. 120). Analysis of the pigments used in this portrait shows them to be consistent with an early 17th century date although not excluding an earlier date.
Unlike the three principal versions of the 'Armada' type, the present portrait is of a smaller format and does not include a direct pictorial reference to the defeat of the Armada itself. Queen Elizabeth I is shown in a richly embroidered dress lavishly adorned with pearls and jewels, with large sleeves and a large lace ruff that emphasises her magnificence and her authority as a powerful and victorious monarch. Rather than being shown flanked by scenes of the great naval victory, with her crown to her right and with her right hand on a globe, her fingers pointing to the Americas, alluding to her expanding domain across the Atlantic, here the Queen is depicted against a green curtain, with an ostrich plume fan in her left hand and holding a diamond pendant in her right hand.
The early provenance of the picture is not clear. It appeared in a sale at Christie's in 11 May 1894, sold by William Frederick Woolley 'removed from Pryor's Bank, Fulham'. Pryor's Bank, near Fulham Church, had been occupied at the beginning of the 19th Century by a modest house named Vine Cottage which was purchased by Walsh Porter who enlarged it and installed some highly theatrical decorations, to amuse visitors such as the Prince of Wales. It was later owned by Lady Hawarden and then by William Holmes, M.P., who sold it in 1834 to Thomas Baylis and Lechmere Whitmore who replaced it with a gothic revival house that they christened Pryor's Bank which reflected the nature of the collections assembled there of ecclesiastical carvings and objects, and furniture and pictures from the Tudor and Elizabethan periods. In its heyday in the 1830s and 1840s the house was the centre of lively society with an antiquarian and dramatic bent. It was put up for sale in 1841 but the house and collection remained in Baylis's possession. There was a further sale in 1854 and Baylis later retired to nearby Thames Bank House where Bonhams conducted an auction in 1875 after his death (11 August 1875). Pryor's Bank was pulled down in 1897.
The 1894 Christie's catalogue states that this portrait, then attributed to Zucchero, was 'given by King Charles I to Judge Twisden of Royden Hall, Kent, but there is no comment on the source of this information and no subsequent provenance or information on how and when it entered the collection at Pryor's Bank are given. The 'Judge Twisden' referred to is presumably Sir Thomas Twysden, Bt. (d. 1682), second son of Sir William Twysden, 1st Bt (d. 1628), of Bradbourne, Kent, who was a Judge of the King's Bench from 1660. The Twisden family were closely connected to the Stuart Court. Sir Thomas's father was part of the retinue that conducted King James I to London when he first came from Scotland, and was knighted by King James I in 1603 and created a Baronet in 1611. The gift of an image of Queen Elizabeth I from King Charles I would certainly have been an appropriate one as Thomas Twysden's grandfather, who was Sheriff of Kent, had played a prominent role at the time of the Armada as the Captain of a troop of Kentish gentlemen at the camp formed at Tilbury to oppose the anticipated Spanish invasion force, where Queen Elizabeth I had spoken to the troops as the Armada approached.
In the 1894 Christie's sale the picture was acquired by Charles Butler (1822-1910), of Warren Wood, who formed an important collection of Old Master pictures, the bulk of which was dispersed in a two day sale at Christie's on 25 and 26 May 1911. The present portrait has remained in the collection of Charles Butler's family until now.