Portrait of a Young Woman

Although once thought to depict Queen Elizabeth I as a princess, the date of this portrait is too late for this to be true. Nevertheless, the extravagance of the woman’s richly embroidered and pearl-encrusted costume indicates that she was from the highest rank of Elizabethan society. Although she may only have been in her midteens when this painting was made, the laurel or bay leaves worn in her hat suggest that this picture celebrated a forthcoming marriage. In the sixteenth century, sprigs of gilded rosemary and bays (which were associated with constancy and love) were held aloft by the figure leading the marriage procession from the church on the day of the wedding. The unusual naked caryatids on the columns behind the sitter were probably copied from Continental engravings of fashionable architectural ornament that were newly published and being collected and emulated by discriminating patrons in England.