Oil Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS   |   Nicholas HILLIARD

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Oil Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots
Oil Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots

LOVELY EARLY 19TH-CENTURY OIL PORTRAIT OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS

(MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS) [HILLIARD, Nicholas]. Oil Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots. No place: likely early 19th century. Oil on panel, measures 7 by 8 inches, handsomely framed; entire piece measures 10-1/2 by 12 inches.

Lovely early 19th-century original oil portrait of Mary Queen of Scots, after the portrait of Elizabethan-era court miniaturist and painter Nicholas Hilliard.

Mary Stuart was the daughter of James V, King of Scotland, who died when she was six days old, thus making her Queen of Scotland. As the great-granddaughter of Henry VII of England, she was also an heir to the English throne after Henry VIII's children. Following the breaking off of her engagement to Henry VIII's son, which would have united the two thrones, Mary was sent to France in 1558, where she married the Dauphin, who became King Francis II a year later. Following his death in 1560, she returned to what was now Protestant Scotland, but her Catholicism was tolerated. Her marriage to her murderously ambitious second cousin, Henry Stuart (Lord Darnley) in 1565 lasted only two years, as he himself was the victim of murder. Mary's controversial marriage to the acquitted chief murder suspect, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, only served to unite the fractious nobles who were victorious at Carberry Hill without any battle having been fought. Following her abdication in favor of her son and her escape, she again raised an army, which also was defeated, finally seeking refuge with Queen Elizabeth, who had Mary imprisoned for the rest of her life. Always seen as a threat to Elizabeth's throne, especially with her claim through her late Stuart husband, Lord Darnley, who had been next in line for succession to the throne after Elizabeth I, Mary was eventually executed in 1587. The son she had with Darnley, James VI, of Scotland, eventually became King James I of England.

A few minor abrasions to panel, about-fine. A lovely portrait of Mary Queen of Scots.

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