Portrait of Mary I, Queen of England (1516-1558), bust-length, in a jeweled French hood, a gold-embroidered dress with pearls, diamonds and rubies, with a Medici collar and a high neck, with a jeweled choker and pendant

All the portraits of Mary produced during her reign and after stem from two sittings, which resulted in two basic face-masks: the first by Antonio Mor, who was sent to England by Emperor Charles V to paint Mary for her prospective bridegroom, Philip, autograph versions of which are in the Prado, Madrid and the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, Boston; and the second by Hans Eworth, the prime of which is in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries (see R. Strong, National Portrait Gallery: Tudor & Jacobean Portraits, London, 1969, I, pp. 211-2). This bust-length follows the Mor type, which was clearly popular; a three-quarter-length version is at Windsor, a half-length at Trinity College, Cambridge, and a bust-length in the Cathedral Library, Durham. While this portrait follows the contours of the Mor pattern very closely, it departs from it in the detail, most notably, the dress is now richly embroidered and the design of the pendant jewel has been elaborated to incorporate two further pearls. The embroidery detail on the collar has also been altered. Bust-lengths at Windsor and in the collection of the Marquess of Bath (Heinz archive, National Portrait Gallery) have a similar pendant design (with four jewels set around the main jewel) and employ the same floral pattern for the collar as this portrait. The most unusual aspect of this portrait is the highly embroidered dress, since most of the other painted copies follow the plain design set by the Mor type. The dress was elaborated in this way however when the Mor type was adapted by Jacopo da Trezzo for his medals of Mary (London, National Portrait Gallery).

Dendrochronological analysis of the panel support has provided a felling date range between 1569 and 1585, which places the execution of this portrait after Mary's reign, during the rule of her half-sister, Elizabeth I. It is likely therefore to have been painted as a clandestine image for a faithful, Catholic supporter of Mary's.