Post by Elly on Aug 22, 2006 22:24:08 GMT 10
Artistic sleuths use science to reveal the head of Mary, Queen of Scots
By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent
(Filed: 17/08/2006)
For 30 years, the small oak panel bearing an image of Mary, Queen of Scots, was dismissed as a copy and consigned to a store room.
Yesterday, after several months of tests, the National Portrait Gallery proclaimed its neglected portrait to be only the second known contemporary oil painting of the unhappy queen, beheaded on her cousin's orders in 1587.
The cabinet portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots
"It is very exciting but we do not really know the significance of it yet," said Tarnya Cooper, the curator of 16th century paintings at the NPG.
Acquired by the gallery in 1912, the picture, a cabinet portrait, (so called because it was small enough to be locked away in a cabinet when not on display), was consigned to the cellars in the 1970s because scholars were convinced that it was painted in the 17th century.
But recent tree ring analysis has dated the Baltic oak panel on which it was painted to the period 1560-1592. Dr Cooper is convinced that the portrait, measuring 10 by seven-and-a-half inches, was also painted in this period because microscope examinations have revealed paint pigments used in the second half of the 16th century.
Several contemporary miniatures - notably by Nicholas Hilliard - and drawings of Mary exist but there is only one previous known painting of her. It is in the Royal Collection.
Dr Cooper said yesterday: "The vast majority of painted portraits of Mary, Queen of Scots, that survive were either painted in the Jacobean period when her son James I came to the English throne, or are later imaginary portraits."
But the discovery raises more questions than answers. The artist is unknown and Dr Cooper cannot say when precisely it was painted and whether it was from life or copied from a drawing.
She believes that it may have been painted either as a symbol of loyalty for one of Mary's supporters during the 19 years she was imprisoned in England or as an icon of Catholic martyrdom soon after her death.
Mary is wearing a string of pearls, handsome clothing and a fine cap embroidered with more pearls. It is just possible, says Dr Cooper, that Mary may have been wearing Elizabeth I's cast-offs.
The restored picture goes on display at the NPG today.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/17/nmary17.xml
By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent
(Filed: 17/08/2006)
For 30 years, the small oak panel bearing an image of Mary, Queen of Scots, was dismissed as a copy and consigned to a store room.
Yesterday, after several months of tests, the National Portrait Gallery proclaimed its neglected portrait to be only the second known contemporary oil painting of the unhappy queen, beheaded on her cousin's orders in 1587.
The cabinet portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots
"It is very exciting but we do not really know the significance of it yet," said Tarnya Cooper, the curator of 16th century paintings at the NPG.
Acquired by the gallery in 1912, the picture, a cabinet portrait, (so called because it was small enough to be locked away in a cabinet when not on display), was consigned to the cellars in the 1970s because scholars were convinced that it was painted in the 17th century.
But recent tree ring analysis has dated the Baltic oak panel on which it was painted to the period 1560-1592. Dr Cooper is convinced that the portrait, measuring 10 by seven-and-a-half inches, was also painted in this period because microscope examinations have revealed paint pigments used in the second half of the 16th century.
Several contemporary miniatures - notably by Nicholas Hilliard - and drawings of Mary exist but there is only one previous known painting of her. It is in the Royal Collection.
Dr Cooper said yesterday: "The vast majority of painted portraits of Mary, Queen of Scots, that survive were either painted in the Jacobean period when her son James I came to the English throne, or are later imaginary portraits."
But the discovery raises more questions than answers. The artist is unknown and Dr Cooper cannot say when precisely it was painted and whether it was from life or copied from a drawing.
She believes that it may have been painted either as a symbol of loyalty for one of Mary's supporters during the 19 years she was imprisoned in England or as an icon of Catholic martyrdom soon after her death.
Mary is wearing a string of pearls, handsome clothing and a fine cap embroidered with more pearls. It is just possible, says Dr Cooper, that Mary may have been wearing Elizabeth I's cast-offs.
The restored picture goes on display at the NPG today.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/17/nmary17.xml
