National Portrait Gallery

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This was our first trip and our first real step towards being an independent learner and Lordy was it terrifying. I've lived in London for 16 years and I've lived north of London for a few more years. Getting about home as never been an issue as I can tell you what how:
-Frequently the trains are
-What time the last train is
-What changes I need to make
-Where to go if there is a closure on the line

Now, being completely south of the river is a new experience for me, so it's taken a little bit of a memory rejiggle to feel completely at ease with my journey. We all met up together and realised that the line to London is used quite frequently by commuters. Having a large group of people meant it was slightly challenging for us to all get seats together. Fifteen minutes into our journey a group text goes out saying there's seats in a carriage, so we ran down the seats together.

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After an uneventful journey, we get to Waterloo. Quick fag break and we make our way to the Northern. As soon as stepped on that escalator, I realised I was home and that navigating myself and the troops to the gallery would be easy. Without even look at the signs we get on the tube and head to Charing Cross. I gave my seat up to a gentlemen as you know banking Karma points is always good.

 We get off at head above ground. Just looking around I can tell what way we need to go. We walk and chat until we get to the gallery; getting increasingly frustrated with tourists who think it's completely OK to stop in a large group in the middle of the pavement and take a group selfie with one of those hideous 'Selfie Sticks'. Etiquette is important.

 We wait patiently outside the gallery
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 I really wanted to go to the Audrey Hepburn exhibition because some of the photos that were used to advertise the exhibition would have been really good reference points for our photography unit; however the next entry to this would have been at 5pm and I didn't have the time to go to it.

 Heading up to the Tudor room, I really liked how there was a brief overview on the history on the tudors on the walls that sectioned off the exhibition. There was just enough information if you had a little knowledge of what was going on in the Tudor times to make it helpful without overloading you with lots of information.

 The first potrait that really captured my interest was because of the plaque that came with it. It was of Edward VI and he was young King and didn't reign for very long as he died young with an illness.

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The reason this photo captured my interest was because of the uncanny resemblance to the pose of his father, Henry VIII. Edward succeeded his father at the age of nine. The plaque told me that the original pose for the portrait had a wider stance but the artist altered the foot position because the right foot looked odd for a boy as young as he was. During Lectures with Chris, he told us about post production work and things that are altered. In this painting, the coat of arms was added afterwards and this suggest that this painting was completed when he became King.

 His clothing in this portrait is very similar to what his father wore when he was King. The fur trim always seems to present in portraits that are painted in this era. It makes me think that white fur was a luxury and to have it stitched into a jacket like this meant it could only be afforded by the rich. It looks like he has lots of layers on to make him look physically bigger. He was only a young boy and he couldn't be seen like that to his people or his enemies.

 Unlike the Elizabeth I paintings there doesn't seem to be much symbolism in the portrait. The dagger he holds in his hand is normally associated with courage and bravery.

On my stroll through the Tudor room I found loads of bits of information about the progression of painting of Elizabeth I. It turns out that there was such a huge demand for portraits of Elizabeth that many weren't painted from life. There were almost like human patterns of her face that were passed around to artists so they could paint her. This is why some of her portraits look uncannily similar to one another because they've used the same 'stencil'

 Elizabeth became known as the Virgin Queen. This was in equal measure a brave and bold move yet her privy would have probably voiced their concerns that she was seen as weak for not having an heir, or a successor. In Elizabeth's portraits, they are literally dripping with symbolism. It's almost unheard of for there to not be a Tudor Rose.

  I found one particular painting of her fascinating. I sat in front of it for ages. I was my favourite painting of her from my childhood memories that involved the Tudors. The painting in question is Queen Elizabeth I ('The Ditchley portrait')
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This painting was commissioned by Sir Henry Lee, who was the Queen's Champion. She is shown to be stand on Oxfordshire, home of Sir Henry Lee. This painting made me realise that romance has evolved so much. This could have been commission out of love or admiration for her and it's HUGE. It would have cost a lot of money and in modern times taking a girl out to Nandos is a completely accepted and recognised form of romance. Yet in the days of the Tudors, wearing a favour from the lady you sought, or commissioning a painting of someone you thought highly of was the way to show such affection.

 The background of this portrait caught my eye, as in most portraits of Elizabeth the backgrounds tend to have their own story.  Elizabeth is stood at the centre with a dark and stormy cast over to her right, which when you look at the map would include all the problems she would have been having with France and namely Spain. Among the bottom of the country there are ships. After refreshing my memory regarding the Battle of the Spanish Armada I learned that even after the humiliating defeat the Spanish suffered in 1588, King Philip still sent ships over to England yet nothing that would ever resemble the Armada. I think the placement of the ships in the painting is to resemble the beacons that were lit among the coastline that signaled the invasion of the Armada. It could also be argued that the placement shows that England isn't weak at any side of the country. 

 White is a colour that is has been associated with virgins and purity for a long time. It's why we still have white wedding dresses. Being called the Virgin Queen, it would only be suited for her to be in a white dress. The jewels on the dress indicate wealth. These are shaped of the Tudor Rose that was a common theme in Elizabethan portraiture. The Tudor Rose was a symbol was a combination of the two houses that fought in the War of The Roses and it's always present because it symbolized 'the much-needed stability to the nation after years of civil war. The Tudor rose was used in Elizabeth's portraits to refer to the Tudor dynasty and the unity that it brought to the realm. The rose also had religious connotations, as the medieval symbol of the Virgin Mary, and was used to allude to the Virgin Queen as the secular successor to the Virgin Mary.'http://www.rmg.co.uk/explore/sea-and-ships/in-depth/elizabeth/representing-the-queen/symbols-and-emblems-used-in-elizabeth-portraiture

 Gloves were a symbol of elegance, Elizabeth is seen to be holding them along with a fan. 'Fans were commonly associated with the sophistication of the upper classes'  http://www.whalingmuseum.org/online_exhibits/fans/fashion.html  

 A modern interpretation of these two symbols could be that she kept a firm, yet fair rule of her realm. I remember someone saying that "Rule with an velvet or and Iron Fist". It was the first thing I thought of when I looked at the painting.

 Pearls are used here as decoration and that to symbolise her purity and virginity.

 For all her hatred of shadow, Elizabeth I could not stop the advancing dimness of age. But her portraits compensated by showing her as the regal source of light. The “Ditchley portrait”, where she appears as the banisher of stormy darkness, thought to be painted by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, commemorated an elaborate entertainment laid on for the Queen at the estate of Sir Henry Lee near Oxford. The scale was so lavish and spectacular that the cost nearly ruined Lee, and he became the butt of the sneerers when he declined to repeat it some years later. The picture, however, remained unprecedented in its union of monarchy and geography, for Elizabeth’s reign also saw the production of detailed maps of the kingdom. Elizabeth stands with her feet planted on Ditchley, the giantess-goddess of her dominions, the personification of England. Behind her left shoulder a tempest rages, struck by bolts of lightning. But the storm loses force in her majestic presence. Over her right shoulder sunlit clouds are parting and the sky is coloured the cerulean blue of peace. An inscription acclaims her as the “Prince of Light”.

 I read all of this article and it wasn't until I'd got the bottom of it I realised that it was about the Exhibition that I had seen at the National Portrait Gallery. I left the gallery and I met up with a friend for a coffee in the House of Parliament (as you do) I then went on a private tour and I found a painting that had Queen Elizabeth I in. The amount of Tudor Roses that are present in the Architecture of London is completely unreal. It's only when you start looking for them that you realise they are everywhere.


















References 

http://www.rmg.co.uk/explore/sea-and-ships/in-depth/elizabeth/representing-the-queen/symbols-and-emblems-used-in-elizabeth-portraiture

http://www.whalingmuseum.org/online_exhibits/fans/fashion.html




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