Analysis Of Elizabeth's Image As A Virgin Queen

To control her image as an ageing queen, Elizabeth used extensively what Roy Strong called the 'Mask of Youth ' in her official portraiture, also known as the policy of rejuvenation. This means that, to retain her power as a female ruler at the end of her reign and keep up with her image as an eternal Virgin Queen, Elizabeth had to hide her physical decay.28 It was commonly perceived that beauty was a necessary quality in a ruler, and at the age of almost seventy, Elizabeth had to appear as beautiful as ever to ensure that her subjects would remain loyal to her.29 There are many portraits of Elizabeth which exemplify the policy of rejuvenation and pay great attention to the queen 's dress and appearance to portray her as eternally virginal

Elizabeth appears close to her subjects as part of the procession but inaccessible and sacred at the same time, as time seems to have no effect on her physical appearance.30 It has been seen with the Sieve Portrait that a recurring theme in Elizabeth 's official portraiture is the question of scale, and the queen is represented here as slightly bigger than her courtiers, with a very imposing dress.31 The dress in itself is particularly interesting as it is immaculate white, the colour of virginity, and enamelled with black jewels, black being traditionally associated with consistency.32 Elizabeth had throughout her reign reclaimed the colours black and white as her own, and with her personal motto 'Semper Aedem ' – 'Always the same ' – the Procession Picture appears as a perfect example of the queen combining different elements of her iconography, as a permanent Virgin Queen, to convey the idea of supreme, and almost supernatural power.33 Elizabeth needed to be represented as unchallengeable, and by using the 'Mask of Youth ' not even time could affect

To signify her political and religious differences, mainly from her Spanish rival Philip II – who had been married to her half-sister Mary I and therefore had been king consort of England – Elizabeth constructed her own pictorial style for her official portraiture, rejecting the International Style which was the most common for portraiture during the Renaissance.34 By scorning popular painting devices such as chiaroscuro or three-dimensionality, Elizabeth did not only reject her continental rivals politically and religiously, but also artistically and culturally.35 This unique visual identity is exemplified by the Armada Portrait, painted to celebrate her victory over the mighty Spanish Armada in 1588 (Fig. 4). Elizabeth is depicted with her hand on a globe in front of pictures of Spanish ships sinking, signifying her imperial ambitions and her military power.36 With her extravagant clothes, excessively covered in jewels and with the English crown resting behind her, Elizabeth uses her image to provoke the Spanish and assert her willingness to make the English Crown the most powerful in