Queen Elizabeth I

As court artist to Queen Elizabeth I, Nicholas Hilliard painted many portraits of his sovereign, each differing in dress and facial expression. Intended to be worn as jewellery or carried on one’s person, they served as gifts, to show political favour. Trained as a goldsmith and jeweller, Hilliard popularized miniature painting, and was renowned for capturing the brilliance and texture of precious metals and gems by burnishing the metallic pigments he used, to make them gleam like real jewels.