Date of Award
Spring 2023
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Visual & Performing Arts; College of Arts & Sciences
First Advisor
Dr. Jill Pederson
Abstract
By analyzing the iconographic program of the Armada Portrait, this essay demonstrates the various visual strategies that Queen Elizabeth I employed in order to navigate certain gendered, cultural barriers present in Early Modern England. I argue throughout this essay that Elizabeth was meticulous in her delicate dance of bolstering her individual authority, while not radically undermining the patriarchal dispensation in which she lived and ruled. In particular, I demonstrate that Queen Elizabeth I effectively utilized the visual arts to control the public perception of her reign in ways unique to female regnants, as she both confirmed and denied her femininity.
Cognizant of cultural barriers experienced by women, the artist of the Armada Portrait employed iconography that acknowledged and challenged values that condemned women rulers who sought power and praised those who passively acknowledged their position. The attributes embedded within the composition of the Armada Portrait perform several functions, including allowing for ambiguous public perception of the Queen as both uniquely competent, yet also culturally complacent.
The Armada Portrait demonstrates the capacity of the visual arts, and of Queen Elizabeth herself, to legitimize her reign, while simultaneously criticizing the regime of Mary– a parallel figure unusual in her degree of power as a female ruler.
Together, these circumstances reveal that even during opportunities for female agency, as evidenced in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, that there still existed cultural barriers for women, such as prevailing conjectures of their natural inferiority. Through the investigation of the Armada Portrait, I have expanded the scope for exploring the efficacy of portraiture as propaganda and a tool to navigate femininity in a sea of patriarchal systems.
Recommended Citation
Maurer, Julia, "Navigating Femininity: Queen Elizabeth I and the Armada Portrait" (2023). Capstone Showcase. 1.
https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/showcase/2023/arts/1
Included in
Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons, Cultural History Commons, History of Gender Commons, Renaissance Studies Commons, Social History Commons, Women's History Commons
Navigating Femininity: Queen Elizabeth I and the Armada Portrait
By analyzing the iconographic program of the Armada Portrait, this essay demonstrates the various visual strategies that Queen Elizabeth I employed in order to navigate certain gendered, cultural barriers present in Early Modern England. I argue throughout this essay that Elizabeth was meticulous in her delicate dance of bolstering her individual authority, while not radically undermining the patriarchal dispensation in which she lived and ruled. In particular, I demonstrate that Queen Elizabeth I effectively utilized the visual arts to control the public perception of her reign in ways unique to female regnants, as she both confirmed and denied her femininity.
Cognizant of cultural barriers experienced by women, the artist of the Armada Portrait employed iconography that acknowledged and challenged values that condemned women rulers who sought power and praised those who passively acknowledged their position. The attributes embedded within the composition of the Armada Portrait perform several functions, including allowing for ambiguous public perception of the Queen as both uniquely competent, yet also culturally complacent.
The Armada Portrait demonstrates the capacity of the visual arts, and of Queen Elizabeth herself, to legitimize her reign, while simultaneously criticizing the regime of Mary– a parallel figure unusual in her degree of power as a female ruler.
Together, these circumstances reveal that even during opportunities for female agency, as evidenced in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, that there still existed cultural barriers for women, such as prevailing conjectures of their natural inferiority. Through the investigation of the Armada Portrait, I have expanded the scope for exploring the efficacy of portraiture as propaganda and a tool to navigate femininity in a sea of patriarchal systems.