Queen Elizabeth I portraits to go head to head
There will be a rare chance this week to compare two famous portraits of Queen Elizabeth I as they are displayed together for the first time in 25 years, after art detective work proved both were painted on timber from the same two oak trees, in the same studio and almost certainly by the Tudor genius Nicholas Hilliard.
The two paintings, which show the queen magnificently dressed and festooned with pearls and gold chains, are known as the Phoenix and the Pelican portraits, after the jewels hanging on her breast. They are normally hundreds of miles apart, the Phoenix owned by the National Portrait Gallery but on long loan to the Tate, the Pelican in the Walker collection in Liverpool. The Pelican is on the left, above.
For one week from today they will be on display at the NPG in London, after experts spent months poring over them to resolve the mystery of their origin....
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
The two paintings, which show the queen magnificently dressed and festooned with pearls and gold chains, are known as the Phoenix and the Pelican portraits, after the jewels hanging on her breast. They are normally hundreds of miles apart, the Phoenix owned by the National Portrait Gallery but on long loan to the Tate, the Pelican in the Walker collection in Liverpool. The Pelican is on the left, above.
For one week from today they will be on display at the NPG in London, after experts spent months poring over them to resolve the mystery of their origin....