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Hampton Court ... Illustrated with forty-three drawings by Herbert ...

Hampton Court ... Illustrated with forty-three drawings by Herbert ...

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178<br />

HAMPTON COURT<br />

In No. 616, which again may be <strong>by</strong> Zuccaro, she is<br />

dressed in black and white <strong>with</strong> a high ruff, her hair in<br />

small rows of curls, <strong>with</strong> a fan in her small, white<br />

hand. In No. 635 she is every inch a queen, <strong>with</strong> the<br />

" crown imperiall " on her head, the sceptre in her<br />

right hand, and the orb in her left. Two ladies stand<br />

behind her. In front are Juno, Pallas, and Venus,<br />

who all show surprise, admiration, and submission to<br />

this mightier divinity.<br />

The frame bears an inscription which shows the<br />

spirit of the composition: —<br />

Juno potens sceptris et mentis acumine Pallas;<br />

Et roseo Veneris fulget in ore decus;<br />

Adfuit Elizabeth, Juno perculsa refugit;<br />

Obstupuit Pallas, erubuitque Venus."<br />

Her dress is magnificent, her face far more pleasing<br />

and gracious than in other works. The artist was<br />

Lucas da Heere, who painted the picture in 1569,<br />

when the Queen was thirty-six.<br />

A portrait of her in old age 1 completes the list.<br />

Here she is in white, <strong>with</strong> a red silk head-dress and<br />

a close ruff. This is believed to be the work of<br />

Marcus Gheerardt — Garrard, as the English called<br />

him — the elder. This is dignified, astute, weary, and<br />

an admirable completion of the cycle of portraits,<br />

which shows her in prim youth, artificial womanhood,<br />

queenly dignity, and cunning old age.<br />

With Elizabeth the Tudor portraits end. There<br />

1No. 619.

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