Masterpiece Story: The Phoenix Portrait of Elizabeth I

Nicholas Hilliard was one of Elizabeth I’s favorite artists. Born in 1547 in Exeter, Devon, UK, Hilliard was a goldsmith, miniaturist, painter, and author of The Art of Limning, the first book about miniature painting in English.¹

One of Hilliard’s most famous paintings is the Phoenix Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, named after a pendant in the shape of a phoenix bursting from the flames pinned to the front of the Queen’s dress.

The phoenix represented themes of rebirth, immortality, transformation, and renewal. Its most famous symbolism comes from the idea that a phoenix dies in flames, only to be reborn from its own ashes. This cycle of death and rebirth makes the phoenix a potent symbol of hope, resilience, and the indomitable spirit.

The Phoenix Queen

However, there is more to this painting than meets the eye. The phoenix emblem became prominent in Elizabeth I’s iconography and material culture starting in 1575. That year, poet and playwright Ulpian Fulwell wrote The Flower of Fame containing two poems eulogizing Elizabeth’s mother, Anne Boleyn.

Queen Anne, Henry VIII’s second wife, was executed for adultery, incest, and treason on May 19, 1536, when Elizabeth was two years and eight months old. Following Elizabeth’s accession in 1558, Anne’s historical reputation underwent a profound shift. Previously marginalized and often vilified, Queen Anne was rehabilitated in the public imagination.² This newfound interest led to a demand for portraits of Anne, as she was now seen as an important figure in English history, being the mother of Queen Elizabeth I. Narratives rehabilitating Anne also started to appear, praising her faith and charity but tactfully omitting the cause of her death.

Ulpian Fulwell’s poems praise Anne Boleyn as “a noble queen” and Henry VIII’s “lawful wife” whose destiny was to be sent from heaven to give birth to Queen Elizabeth I.³ In the Commemoration of Queen Anne Bullayne, Fulwell links Anne with the mythical phoenix, a bird that dies in flames and rises from its own ashes, writing: “This noble Phoenix, in likewise, hath of her cinders sent a noble imp, a worthy Queen, ere [before] she from world went.”⁴ Fulwell paints a vivid picture of Anne from whose ashes rises “a noble imp, a worthy Queen”, Elizabeth I. Fulwell’s poem is the first recorded instance of Anne Boleyn being linked to the phoenix.⁵

Phoenix Emblem in Elizabeth I’s Iconography

Elizabeth I liked the idea of being linked to her late mother in this fashion and continued to display the phoenix emblem in her portraiture and jewelry. The Phoenix Jewel, a gold medal, is attributed to Nicholas Hilliard, dated to c. 1570–1580, currently preserved in the British Museum, and shows Elizabeth in profile facing left, dressed in similar fashions as in Hilliard’s Phoenix Portrait.

The reverse of the jewel shows Elizabeth’s monogram, a phoenix rising from the flames, and a crown. The monogram spells every letter of Elizabeth’s name but is ambiguously designed to resemble a combination of letters EAB which could hold a personal meaning and be interpreted as a merger of letters E for Elizabeth, A for Anne, and B for Boleyn.⁶

Finally, the Chequers locket ring, displaying Elizabeth’s Latin monogram ER meaning “Elizabeth Regina”, Elizabeth the Queen, and featuring two tiny enamel portraits, shows a phoenix on the bezel. The two miniatures inside the ring depict Elizabeth in profile, similar to how she is portrayed in Hilliard’s Phoenix Portrait, and another woman dressed in the fashions from Henry VIII’s reign, facing the viewer.

The other woman has been traditionally identified as Anne Boleyn since her clothes, especially the French hood, specifically date to Anne’s time as queen; the appearance of the phoenix, linked to both Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I, gives more weight to this identification.⁷

Phoenix as a Symbol of Chastity

The phoenix emblem also appealed to Elizabeth I because it symbolized chastity and indicated that, as the Virgin Queen, she was one of a kind. A medal preserved in the British Museum shows a similar depiction of Elizabeth as in Hilliard’s Phoenix Portrait and Phoenix Jewel, depicting Elizabeth in profile. The reverse displays a phoenix amid flames, a monogram, and a crown. The Latin inscription on the reverse translates as: “Happy Arabs whose only Phoenix reproduces by its death a new Phoenix. Wretched English whose only Phoenix becomes, unhappy fate, the last in our country.” This inscription celebrates and laments the Queen’s status as the immortal, radiant, goddess-like Virgin Queen.

Author’s bio

Sylvia Barbara Soberton is an independent researcher and author of 12 books, specializing in the history of the Tudors and the Boleyn family. She is best known for The Forgotten Tudor Women series. Sylvia’s ground-breaking paper on Anne Boleyn and the accusation of witchcraft was published in the Royal Studies Journal in 2023.