Symbolism – Queen Elizabeth the First

In one of my drafts I mentioned that Queen Elizabeth the First had strict control over her portraits and she projected an ideal self to her audience. However I hadn’t done much research into her, the majority of this came from my own knowledge. Anthony suggested that I expand this into looking into Symbolism and I am really glad that he did as it relates completely to the idea of projecting an ideal message to the audience. It also relates to the research I completed surrounding Semiotic theories and the idea of signifiers producing a signified for the audience.

Dictionary Definition for Symbolism

1. the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing thingswith a symbolic meaning or character.

2.a set or system of symbols.

3.symbolic meaning or character.

4.the principles and practice of symbolists in art or literature.

One of my original strands of thought when developing my topic was ‘why do people smile in a photograph or when a camera is pointed.’ this intrigued me to find out the symbolism of a smile.

“A baby, long before it even begins to communicate verbally and physically, feels the message of a smile instinctively and almost always responds in kind…Smiling exhibits our kindness and openness to relate to another person.” (Leff 2007) It is true that we are taught to smile as children, praised when we smile for the first time and for me it is definitely a natural thing to smile in front of the camera.

When looking into Queen Elizabeth and Symbolism I found a world of knowledge, and I have included a fair amount of it in my final draft as I think that it is important to reference the theory of symbolism and also to reference that this idea of projecting an ideal self is not exclusive to the web, it is also not exclusive to photography, these portraits show that it goes back much further than this. I have done a lot of reading around the portraits of Queen Elizabeth however I decided to focus on three main portraits and symbols as these are the ones that seemed to be reoccurring. I could have gone on to talk about the portraits for some time but I was aware that I didn’t want this to be a heavy basis for my script.

“The first thing to mention is that the queen had strict control over how she was portrayed with portraiture. Only painters commissioned by the Queen were allowed to paint her – such as Nicholas Hilliard or Isaac Oliver – … If the Queen was not happy with a portrait, then she would have it destroyed.” (Elizabethi.org n.d.) This is particularly important in the Elizabeth’s time as queen as the state portraits that were distributed would usually be the only thing that the majority of people would see of her. Without the use of media and television in the 1500, the portrait of the Queen becomes even more important as a representation of her self to others. It was the only signifier (semiotic theory) that people had of her.

The symbol of the pelican was used to portray the queen’s selfless lover for her subjects. “The pelican was one of Elizabeth’s favourite symbols, used to portray her motherly love of her subjects. In times of food shortages, mother pelicans were believed to pluck their own breasts to feed their dying young with their blood and save their lives. The mother died in the process and during the Middle Ages the pelican came to represent Jesus sacrificing himself on the cross for the good of mankind and the sacrament of communion, feeding the faithful with his body and blood.” (National Maritime Museum 2015) This portrait also contains a symbol of heritage from the flowers displayed above her shoulders. “The crown is on top of both a rose (on the left) and a fleur-de-lys (on the right.) These represent her dynastic claims to both England and France.” (Cody n.d.)

A phoenix was used as a symbol of uniqueness, that no other could compare to this queen. “A phoenix is a mythological bird which never dies but, after 500 years, is consumed by fire and born again, making it a symbol of the Resurrection, endurance and eternal life. Only one phoenix lives at a time, so it was also used to symbolize Elizabeth’s uniqueness and longevity.” (National Maritime Museum 2015)

The rainbow portrait is the last I want to mention as it incorporates many symbols within the one portrait.

“Her cloak is decorated with eyes and ears, implying that she sees and hears all. Her headdress is an incredible design decorated lavishly with pearls and rubies and supports her royal crown. The pearls symbolize her virginity; the crown, of course, symbolizes her royalty. Pearls also adorn the transparent veil which hangs over her shoulders. Above her crown is a crescent-shaped jewel which alludes to Cynthia, the goddess of the moon. A jeweled serpent is entwined along her left arm, and holds from its mouth a heart-shaped ruby. Above its head is a celestial sphere. The serpent symbolizes wisdom; it has captured the ruby, which in turn symbolizes the queen’s heart. In other words, the queen’s passions are controlled by her wisdom. The celestial sphere echoes this theme; it symbolizes wisdom and the queen’s royal command over nature. Elizabeth’s right hand holds a rainbow with the Latin inscription ‘Non sine sole iris’ (‘No rainbow without the sun’). The rainbow symbolizes peace, and the inscription reminds viewers that only the queen’s wisdom can ensure peace and prosperity. Elizabeth was in her late sixties when this portrait was made, but for iconographic purposes she is portrayed as young and beautiful, more than mortal. In this portrait, she is ageless.” (cody n.d)

There are lots of symbols commented upon in this last portrait and I won’t have time to put all of them into the script, i would however like to mention a few so that the audience get’s the point I am making by including her in my work and suggesting she too portrayed a preferred identity to others. i think it is important to mention about her age and how she appears ageless in this portrait as this is a symbol that has carried on into today’s society. A lot of women still aim to be portrayed as younger than they are by editing imagery, projecting an ideal self.

I feel that this case study is very important to include in my script as it offers a historical context to the theme of identity and how specific ideal messages were portrayed to the audience through the portrait. I am aware that this is not strictly a self portrait, however I believe that as the queen completely directed the portrait and would destroy any that didn’t meet her satisfaction, she did intact have full control over the portrait and therefore did create the image herself.

References

Cody, M. (n.d.) Queen Elizabeth I [online] available from < http://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/eliz1.html&gt; [19 December 2014]

Coombs, K. (2011) Portrait Miniature of Elizabeth I [online] available from <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/tudors/elizabeth_portrait_01.shtml&gt; [17^th February 2015]

Elizabethi.org. (n.d.) The Queen’s Portraits [online] available from < http://www.elizabethi.org/contents/portraits/&gt; [17th February 2015]

Leff, R, B. (2007) Why do we Smile? [online] available from < http://www.aish.com/sp/pg/48929682.html&gt; [19^th February 2015]

National Maritime Museum. (2015) Symbols and emblems used in Elizabeth Portraiture [online] available from < http://www.rmg.co.uk/explore/sea-and-ships/in-depth/elizabeth/representing-the-queen/symbols-and-emblems-used-in-elizabeth-portraiture&gt; [17^th February 2015]

National Portrait Gallery (2015) The Phoenix and the Pelican: two portraits of Elizabeth I, c.1575 [online] available from <http://www.npg.org.uk/research/programmes/making-art-in-tudor-britain/the-phoenix-and-the-pelican-two-portraits-of-elizabeth-i-c.1575.php&gt; [13^th February 2015]