Robert Peake the Elder, Princess Elizabeth. c. 1606, Oil on canvas. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In this portrait of Princess Elizabeth by Robert Peake, you might notice a rather impressive poof. Truly before her time style-wise, the young princess has her hair piled high and offsets it with pearls, rubies and emeralds. Lovely!With killer eyes and a nice sense of style Elizabeth would become the Queen of Bohemia, but only for a short period. She and her husband were quickly exiled and became royal refugees. Their residence of choice was The Hague and she remained in Holland for the rest of her life, aside from travel!
Oooh I would love to put pearls in my hair like that...and the jewels...actually, just to have the jewels would be lovely!
ReplyDeleteI've never seen that portrait before and I have seen many of Elizabeth I. Thanks for showing us.
ReplyDeleteDiane--that is not Elizabeth I, but a cousin of hers, daughter of her successor, James I.
ReplyDeleteI've wondered if the poof was a Danish fashion at that time--Elizabeth's mother Queen Anne also sports a (larger) poof in many paintings from about 1595 til her death. In fact, there is a painting of Anne from 1605 wearing pearls and a white gown striped with pink and decorated with blue ribbons! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anne_of_Denmark-1605.jpg
The ladies of the 1770s would approve!
I'm very facinated with regional fashions. Amongst the upper classes, regional lines began to blur beginning in the 16th century, but was most evident in the 18th (robe anglaise, anyone?). It seems only amongst the common people regional fashions remained so.
I think a bust of her head, based on this portrait, would make a fun jewel keeper for the top of a vanity. The poof would be filled with a cork lined cone and covered over with strands of mohair. The rest of the head, the neck and shoulders would be ceramic and painted with elaborate designs. I'm too lazy to do it, but there is the idea for any takers.
ReplyDeleteI was inspired by watching The Tudors to take a class to learn how to hand knot pearls, I intend to become a very pearlized individual in the coming days...
ReplyDeleteNo way! I have been obsessed with pearls lately! I am even wearing them now. I would love to see what you create!
ReplyDelete