Painting of the Day: Elizabeth I and the Three Goddesses, 1569



Elizabeth I and the Three Goddesses
The Monogrammist, H.E., 1569
The Royal Collection





In the Sixteenth Century, artists often flattered their subjects (especially if that subject was Royal) by painting them in the guise of mythological or heroic figures. This painting of Queen Elizabeth I from 1569 casts the ginger monarch as Paris in this sycophantic re-telling of the story of “The Judgment of Paris.” Set against the backdrop of that mythological beauty contest, we see Elizabeth I keeping the prize (here, the Orb of State as opposed to the golden apple in the original story) as a symbol of her triumph over the goddesses Minerva, Juno and Venus.


The painting is the work of an artist who styled himself as “The Monogrammist, H.E.” The frame is inscribed with Latin text which translates to “Pallas was keen of brain, Juno was queen of might, / The rosy face of Venus was in beauty shining bright, / Elizabeth then came, And, overwhelmed, Queen Juno took flight: / Pallas was silenced: Venus blushed for shame.”