'Virgin Queen' portrait fetches £2.6 million
Published on: 23-Nov-2007
full-length depiction of Queen Elizabeth I has realised an above-estimate £2.6 million at auction.The portrait of the 'virgin queen', so called because she never married, exceeded expectations of an offer between £700,000 and £1 million, said auctioneers Sotheby's.
Court painter Steven van der Meulen is reputed to have painted it to help advertise the monarch to any potential suitors.
At two metres tall, it shows a porcelain-skinned queen standing in a crimson coloured dress bedecked in pearls and gems.
Emmeline Hallmark, of Sotheby's, said: "Like her father, Henry VIII, she was incredibly conscious of how important her image was.
"This painting is so pretty and decorative and the symbolism alludes to the fact that she is in the ripeness of her life."
Elizabeth gave the oil canvas, painted around 1560, to the Hampden family.
It remained with them until loaned to Aylesbury Crown Court in Buckinghamshire where it hung, largely without any fanfare, for 50 years.
The portrait now resides with the successful bidders - an art dealership in London.
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