How does a powerful woman present herself in a society that views women as inferior to men? This was the question faced by Elizabeth I and those who constructed her image in the sixteenth century. How - to use the Queen's own terms from her famous speech at Tilbury in 1588 - to convey that 'the heart and stomach of a king' lay within the 'body of a weak and feeble woman'. In this talk, Charlotte Bolland will explore the way in which Elizabeth and her advisors used portraiture to shape her image as queen over the course of her long reign.
Dr Charlotte Bolland is Senior Curator, Research and 16th Century Collections at the National Portrait Gallery. Her role combines responsibility for the acquisition, research and interpretation of portraits dating from the sixteenth century, with co-ordination of research activity across the Gallery. She has curated a number of exhibitions, including The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered (2014), The Encounter: Drawings from Leonardo to Rembrandt (2017), and Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens (2024).
Event organiser is Harvington Hall.
Disclaimer: All information was correct when the listing was prepared. Any questions about the event should be directed to the event organiser.