A Christmas/New Year's Message

Merry Christmas, BeingBess Readers! 

A portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, after Lucas de Heere. Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Civic Collection. Image public domain. Modified for Christmas/website by BeingBess.

We hope you have a happy holiday (whatever you celebrate) with your family and friends. New articles have been written and will be posted early in the New Year - we look forward to sharing them with you all!

Cheers! - Ashlie

BeingBess Memes: The Ditchley Portrait

"Because I'm all about that bass, 'bout that bass, no treble" - The Ditchley Portrait.

The Ditchley Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I. Image public domain through Creative Commons licensing, NPG, London. Modified for meme by BeingBess.

BeingBess Memes: A Case of the Mondays

Looks like somebody has a case of the Mondays at Hampton Court Palace...

A case of the Mondays... Picture © BeingBess.

Questioning the Validity of Queen Elizabeth I Conspiracy Theories

     

Portrait of Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury. By Rowland Lockey, 1592. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

     Recently I've seen quite a few celebratory posts on Facebook about a blog post on a certain blog (which I will decline to give publicity here) claiming that a portrait of Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury by Rowland Lockey (1592) is actually a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I. Furthermore, the blog post claims that this portrait of Bess-turned-Queen Elizabeth proves that she had an illegitimate child. While I acknowledge that everyone, including myself, subscribes to at least one or two historical conspiracy theories, can we please let the "Queen Elizabeth I had an illegitimate child/ren" theory die once and for all? There are so many historical reasons why she would not/could not have had secret children. 

     Also, regrettably The da Vinci Code seems to have made everyone think that they can find a hidden meaning behind every portrait that has ever been painted in the history of mankind (and remember that Dan Brown's work is considered fiction). While Tudor and Elizabethan portraiture is certainly loaded with symbols with dual meanings, I assure you, the squiggles in Bess of Hardwick's hair and the lines on her dress do not reveal her secret royal identity. Furthermore, in my opinion, anyone making a claim this outlandish had better have at least a graduate degree in art history, if not a PhD, and ideally have published some scholarly journal articles on 16th century portraiture.