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- Icons of supremacy and the birth of an empire: two portraits of Elizabeth IPublication . Relvas, Maria de JesusWhen Portugal and Spain ruled the oceans and took possession of the known world, having divided it into two halves, England occupied a modest insular position, excluded from the big events related to the Discoveries. However, in a short period of time, the nation was to secure a leading place, due to the strategic maritime policy undertaken by Elizabeth I, the monarch who had once been considered the least eligible of the Tudor descendants. In a peculiar context and founded on diverse propaganda policies, namely a munificent emblematic iconography interwoven with literature, the consolidation both of the Tudor Myth and of the Queen’s sovereignty is closely related to the birth of the British Empire. Bearing such matters in mind, I will analyse The Armada Portrait (ca. 1588) and The Ditchley Portrait (ca. 1592), after briefly approaching The Coronation Portrait (ca. 1600), for they constitute the embodiment and materialisation of two powerful icons of supremacy: Elizabeth Tudor and Britannia.
- Metaphors of opulence and power in the life of Thomas Wolsey, the King’s CardinalPublication . Relvas, Maria de JesusThis essay approaches the display of power and rulership both through the art of writing and the art of painting by focusing on George Cavendish's biographical account of Thomas Wolsey.
- “On such a full sea are we now afloat”: travelling through Oceans, writings and images in early modern timesPublication . Relvas, Maria de JesusFor centuries, the Western notion of exoticism and otherness comprehended a relatively limited space, whose epicentre was the Mediterranean Sea. With the maritime expansion on the Atlantic, initiated by the Iberian nations in the fifteenth century and afterwards undertaken by other European countries, deep changes would occur in every domain. Horizons were broadened, geographically, and conceptually, to an unprecedented scale, and an immensity of amazing realities was disclosed. Vessels went far beyond the boundaries of a preconceived universe, at a unique time when innovation was wisely amalgamated with tradition. In the aftermath of such an important human conquest, a natural urge was felt to register what was being witnessed. The complex notions of otherness —as well as of selfhood and identity— became consequently rather striking, once they involved not only the Europeans’ interaction with the New World (and vice versa), but also the interaction among themselves, while disputing the oceans, the recently found territories and the natural resources. Early modern texts, many displaying invaluable illustrations, proliferated and would constitute important data, both on the maritime expansion and the worldview. Bearing in mind the early modern context and the different stages of the Discoveries, this essay is focused on diverse written and iconographic works by European authors of heterogeneous back- grounds— cartographers, engravers, travellers, courtiers, scholars— and on their contribution to the new understanding of the world.
- Myths (re)told in the iconography of Elizabeth IPublication . Relvas, Maria de JesusThe English sixteenth century constitutes a double re-naissance, for it recovers both the Classical Antiquity and the Italian Quattrocento in a most peculiar way. It was, in fact, a re-covery, but also a re-discovery, a re-visitation and a re-writing: of theories, themes, matters, characters and myths, skilfully amalgamated with the native substratum, the Breton matter and the medieval courtly tradition. Amidst a unique set of contextual factors, namely Humanism and Reformation that coincided with the reign of Elizabeth I, the English Renaissance could flourish in a creative, original manner. The monarch became the iconic figure of that blooming, golden age, the inspirer of artists, in general, and of writers, in particular. The portraits of the Queen establish a curious, complementary interrelation with the literary works of the time; they are “speaking pictures” that, metaphorically and metonymically, tell stories, and have forever shaped a mythological character. I will focus on Elizabeth I and the Three Goddesses (1569), The Phoenix Portrait (ca. 1575) and The Rainbow Portrait (ca. 1600), aiming to shed some light on how myths were told and retold in the emblematic iconography of a paradigmatic Queen.