Elizabeth, Duchess of Brunswick (1573-1625) c.1608
Oil on canvas | 238.3 x 139.9 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 405815
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Elizabeth, Duchess of Brunswick was the daughter of Frederick II, King of Denmark (1534-1588) and sister of Queen Anne of Denmark. She became the second wife of Heinrich Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Prince of Calenberg and Prince of Wolfenbüttel, with whom she had ten children, five of whose portraits - all dated 1609 and attributed to Van Doort - are also in the Royal Collection (RCIN 402627, 404914, 404963, 406783 and 407222).
The Duchess is shown in a black dress with a standing collar made of spiky needle lace. Around her neck and draped across her body are multiple ropes of pearls, and on her left breast is a large crescent shaped brooch. She also wears pearl drop earrings and carries a pair of leather gloves. Her hair is raised up over a pad in the fashionable style of the early seventeenth century. It forms a pendant with the portrait of her husband (RCIN 405814) and in each there is a monkey on the table beside the sitter.
Provenance
Probably acquired by Anne of Denmark and one of the portraits of 'Henry Julius Duke of Brunswick, and his wife' seen hanging at Whitehall in 1613 by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar; almost certainly recorded in the Second Privy Lodging Room at Whitehall in 1666 (no 211)
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Creator(s)
(nationality) -
Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
238.3 x 139.9 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
196.7 x 107.9 cm (support (etc), excluding additions)
265.1 x 165.9 x 6.8 cm (frame, external)
Other number(s)
OM add-DoortAlternative title(s)
Elizabeth, Duchess, consort of Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick