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Lot Essay
Born Princess Elizabeth Stuart of Scotland in 1596, the sitter was the eldest daughter of James VI of Scotland, later King James I of England, and his Queen Consort Anne of Denmark, and the sister of King Charles I. She was christened Elizabeth after her godmother, Queen Elizabeth I. Following her father's accession to the English throne in 1603, she was brought to England and entrusted to the care of Lord and Lady Harington of Exton at Combe Abbey, near Coventry. Part of the plan for the abortive Gunpowder Plot of 1605 had been to kidnap the Princess from Combe and place her on the English throne, assassinating the King and Prince of Wales.
The Princess was particularly close to her older brother, Henry, Prince of Wales (1594-1612), and in 1608 the French ambassador reported that the Prince had promised his sister that he would not marry one of King Henri IV's daughters unless she went to France with him as the Dauphin's betrothed. King James I, however, intended that she have a Protestant husband, and Frederick V, Elector Palatine, (1596-1632), grandson of the famous Protestant hero William the Silent, youngest son of William of Orange, and brother and successor of Prince Maurice, was chosen. He was received at Whitehall in October 1612 after months of negotiation, but the fanfare and excitement of his arrival was soon overshadowed by the sudden illness of Prince Henry, who died on 6 November, 1612, probably of typhoid.
Little time elapsed between the death of Prince Henry and the marriage of Princess Elizabeth to Frederick V of the Palatinate on St. Valentine's day in 1613. The bride wore a rich dress of silver embroidered on silver, recorded by the Warrant to the Great Wardrobe for her trousseau. A portrait by an unknown artist probably commissioned around the time of the marriage, now at the National Portrait Gallery, London, shows Elizabeth in a dress of fine Italian silk brocade, with a large black silk rosette armband, and an enamel locket presumably containing the late Prince's miniature pinned to her dress to signify her loss.
The present portrait relates to a portrait by Miereveld of 1613 which was engraved in 1615 by B.A. Bolswert (Holstein no.383), and shows Elizabeth, newly married, with the same mourning rosette and locket pinned, this time, to full mourning costume for her brother. Pearls loop around her shoulders and the front of her bodice, and along with diamonds stud her court wig and headdress. Miereveld also painted a pendant portrait of King Frederick V (location unknown), in which he stands before a curtain, and rests his right hand on a table, in mirror image of the portrait of his wife.
Michiel Jansz. van Miereveld (1567-1641), the son of a Delft goldsmith, was one of the most celebrated portrait painters of his day. Among his foreign sitters were the English Ambassador Sir Dudley Carleton, later 1st Viscount Dorchester, 1620 (Montacute House, Somerset) and Edward Cecil, Viscount Wimbledon, 1631 (National Portrait Gallery, London). From 1604, Miereveld regularly took on commissions for paintings at the Stadholder court in The Hague. His first portrait of King Frederick V dates from around 1610. Until about 1637, the artist and his studio remained suppliers to the court of state portraits.
Frederick and Elizabeth's short reign as King and Queen of Bohemia ended in 1621, and Elizabeth became known as the 'Winter Queen' and sometimes the 'Queen of Hearts' because of her popularity. The rest of her life was largely spent in exile at the Hague, though she cannily used portraiture to publicise her plight, dispatching numerous portraits of herself and her family by Miereveld and his studio to potential allies and supporters. Nonetheless, Elizabeth remained in Holland even after her son Charles I Louis (1617-1680) regained his father's electorship in 1648, only returning to England at the restoration of her nephew King Charles II in 1660. She died the following year, and her grandson through her daughter, Sophia, Electress of Hanover (1630-1714), later became King George I of England (1660-1727).
The Princess was particularly close to her older brother, Henry, Prince of Wales (1594-1612), and in 1608 the French ambassador reported that the Prince had promised his sister that he would not marry one of King Henri IV's daughters unless she went to France with him as the Dauphin's betrothed. King James I, however, intended that she have a Protestant husband, and Frederick V, Elector Palatine, (1596-1632), grandson of the famous Protestant hero William the Silent, youngest son of William of Orange, and brother and successor of Prince Maurice, was chosen. He was received at Whitehall in October 1612 after months of negotiation, but the fanfare and excitement of his arrival was soon overshadowed by the sudden illness of Prince Henry, who died on 6 November, 1612, probably of typhoid.
Little time elapsed between the death of Prince Henry and the marriage of Princess Elizabeth to Frederick V of the Palatinate on St. Valentine's day in 1613. The bride wore a rich dress of silver embroidered on silver, recorded by the Warrant to the Great Wardrobe for her trousseau. A portrait by an unknown artist probably commissioned around the time of the marriage, now at the National Portrait Gallery, London, shows Elizabeth in a dress of fine Italian silk brocade, with a large black silk rosette armband, and an enamel locket presumably containing the late Prince's miniature pinned to her dress to signify her loss.
The present portrait relates to a portrait by Miereveld of 1613 which was engraved in 1615 by B.A. Bolswert (Holstein no.383), and shows Elizabeth, newly married, with the same mourning rosette and locket pinned, this time, to full mourning costume for her brother. Pearls loop around her shoulders and the front of her bodice, and along with diamonds stud her court wig and headdress. Miereveld also painted a pendant portrait of King Frederick V (location unknown), in which he stands before a curtain, and rests his right hand on a table, in mirror image of the portrait of his wife.
Michiel Jansz. van Miereveld (1567-1641), the son of a Delft goldsmith, was one of the most celebrated portrait painters of his day. Among his foreign sitters were the English Ambassador Sir Dudley Carleton, later 1st Viscount Dorchester, 1620 (Montacute House, Somerset) and Edward Cecil, Viscount Wimbledon, 1631 (National Portrait Gallery, London). From 1604, Miereveld regularly took on commissions for paintings at the Stadholder court in The Hague. His first portrait of King Frederick V dates from around 1610. Until about 1637, the artist and his studio remained suppliers to the court of state portraits.
Frederick and Elizabeth's short reign as King and Queen of Bohemia ended in 1621, and Elizabeth became known as the 'Winter Queen' and sometimes the 'Queen of Hearts' because of her popularity. The rest of her life was largely spent in exile at the Hague, though she cannily used portraiture to publicise her plight, dispatching numerous portraits of herself and her family by Miereveld and his studio to potential allies and supporters. Nonetheless, Elizabeth remained in Holland even after her son Charles I Louis (1617-1680) regained his father's electorship in 1648, only returning to England at the restoration of her nephew King Charles II in 1660. She died the following year, and her grandson through her daughter, Sophia, Electress of Hanover (1630-1714), later became King George I of England (1660-1727).