History Painting: ‘The Procession Portrait of Queen Elizabeth’ by an unknown artist sometimes attributed to Robert Peake, c.1600-3.

This painting is known as ‘The Procession Portrait of Queen Elizabeth’, and shows the Queen’s very pomp procession en route to Blackfriars. It was painted towards the end of Elizabeth’s reign, some forty years after she became Queen. An unknown Anglo-Netherlandish artist is said to have painted it but is now often accepted and attributed to Robert Peake the Elder. The motives behind why the painting was made vary but some say it acted as a timely political propaganda tool to remind us of her turbulent ascension to the throne.

We apparently know the identity of many of the men depicted in this painting, notably Edward Somerset, Earl of Worcester (in the foreground) with his left hand clearly on the hilt of his sword, and his son Henry Somerset (on the far right) in white carrying the canopy. Others include (beginning from the far left): Edmund Sheffield, later Earl of Mulgrave; Thomas Howard, Lord Howard of Effingham and Lord Admiral; George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland; George Carey, Lord Hunsten; unknown knight, possibly Robert Radcliffe, Earl of Sussex; and Gilbert Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, carrying the Sword of State.

The long list of earls and lords suggests something important is going on here. According to English art historian Sir Roy Colin Strong, the procession portrait is explicitly linked to the marriage of Henry Somerset, Lord Herbert and Lady Anne Russell, one of Queen Elizabeth’s six maids. In the background the landscapes and castles are an emblematic (rather than a realistic) representation of the Earl of Worcester’s Welsh properties.

As stated earlier, this colourful representation of the Queen’s procession, is most likely the work of Robert Peake the Elder (c.1551-1619); who first appeared on the scene as an employee of the Office of the Revel, which oversaw court festivities for Elizabeth I in 1576. Peake was, as they say, renowned for his brilliantly coloured, full length costume piece paintings. His clientele list included important figures within Elizabeth’s royal circle, and it is possible he was commissioned to paint the Queen’s procession, by none other than Edward Somerset, Earl of Worcester, to celebrate his appointment as Master of the Queen’s Horse in 1601. 

This painting is in the public domain.