QUEEN ELIZABETH

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 24 March 1928, Page 11

QUEEN ELIZABETH

oTi DEN'US uiul collectors of the art or engraving in mezzotint know that Prince Rupert introduced the practice into England, having been taught by the discoverer oi the ait, L/UUWig von iSiegen. At various times examples by botn master and pupil iiave been sold at auction, notably when / a very hue example of Prince itnpert’s “Great Executioner” fetched as much as £lßllO iu the Earl of Pembroke’s sale in 1017. It is, therefore, interesting to state that recently Sotheby’s announced another instructive dispersal, when the Itev. Lewis Gilbertson’s collection was offered. Among the four Ruperts was the rare “Magdalen’ altei Merian, and there were’ two by the Prince’s first pupil, Jan Tiiomas, oi Ypres, and as many as fifteen by his assistant, Wallerant Vaillant. Despite the much greater auction importance of these and other mezzotints, popular interest was more aroused by an early engraving in line by Orispen de Passe delineating with meticulous detail and precision the awe-inspiring costume worn by Queen Elizabeth at St. Paul’s at the Thanksgiving Service for the victory over the Armada. Elvery historian who has written about the Elizabethan age has dwelt upon the sumptuousness of dress and costume in which both sexes then indulged. Bishop Man del I Creighton took up the parable of the fact till at many a courtier would deck himself out in such expensive apparel that in effect he would be wearing “a whole manor on his back,” or the equivalent of a thousand oaks and a hundred oxen, proceeded to state that Queen Elizabeth herself was chiefly responsible for this lavishness. A.t her death over 3000 gowns of the richest materials were found in wardrobes, and the Bishop adds that they were of enormous bulk, and were stuffed and badded “so as to stand off from the body.’’ In these fashion notes it is to be observed that the Bishop does not mention the purpose of the farthingale. Prom the portraits of Queen. Elizabeth bv Zucchero we can see the pomp and splendour of her attire, and understand also that she grew “so fond of her eloathis that she never could part with any of them.” Yet much as she admired the art of Zucchero. she preferred the minutely detailed fashion portrait which Tsabc Oliver, the miniaturist, executed, showing her adorned by the wonderful dress in which she went to St. Paul’s on Sunday, 24tli

HER SUMPTUOUS ATTIRE

November, 11588, to return thanks ‘tor the victory over the Spanish a.i maun. in due course the careful engraver. Crispin de, Passe, made a very taithlui translation of Oliver’s portrait, and it is ironical to find that copies of tins engraving form the chief memorial or this famous thanksgiving when the Queen went in state from Somerset House to the Cathedral with her Privy Council, the highest of her nobles, the French Ambassador, the Judges, and the heralds. She had been driven in a chariot “like a throne,”, drawn by four matchless white horses. At Paul’s Cross, a few weeks before, Dean Nowell had held a service calling upon the people to return thanks. Eleven ensigns taken from the Spanish galleons then streamed from' the lower battlements of the Cathedral, and above the Dean’s head waved another captured flag, representing the Virgin with the Infant in her arms. On 24th November, 1588, all these banners floated QVer the Cathedral. What a picture for an English Velasquez, could there have been one! We know, too, that neither Dean Nowell nor the Bishop of London, John Aylmer (Martin Marprelate’.s “Dumb John of London”) preached that day, but that this pious and historic duty was assigned to the Queen’s Almoner, Dr. Peirse, the Bishop of Salisbury, and afterwards Archbishop of York. After the service was over, amid a. flare of trumpets-, the procession returned through the Cathedral to Bishop Aylmer’s palace, where the. Queen dined, anti was afterwards leoonveyod to Somerset House “in like order as afore, but with great light of torches.” Yet it is Crispin de Passe who seems to have the last word. According to the custom of the period, his engraving is embellished with Latin mottoes, inscriptions, and verses. Below the Royal Arms and the glorious “Semper Eadem” is the date of the Queen’s birth, 1533. As she was still alive when the engraving was done, the year was left blank after the inscription on the left “Mortna Anno Misericordiae.” Above her crowned bead is that pious tribute, of thanks, “Posui Dciim Adjntorem Meum.” Tt is in the laudatory verses below to “Our most ardent Proteotoros.s” (“Propugnatrix Aeorrima”) that the poet extols Elizabeth to the skips, and finds that she excels Semiram irs and Dido, Camilla of the Volscians and Helena of Byzantium.