Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I

This portrait is a detail from the charter that founded the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Ashbourne, Derbyshire. The first page of the charter begins with an E for Elizabeth which is abundantly decorated and contains a particularly fine miniature painting of Queen Elizabeth on her throne surrounded by allegorical figures, exotic birds, animals and fruits (including a robin, dragonfly and snake). The painting of Queen Elizabeth is believed to come from the workshop of Nicholas Hilliard and follows his 'mask of queenship' pattern.