Sir Henry Lee

Image credit: National Portrait Gallery, London

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Notes

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A favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, Lee was the originator of the annual Accession Day Tilts on 17 November, the most important Elizabethan court festival from at least 1581. He was the first person to hold the office of Queen's Champion, which he resigned in 1590. This portrait was painted on a visit to Antwerp in June 1568. The rings which Lee wears and the true-lovers' knots and armillary spheres on his sleeves probably have personal symbolic significance. Lee later patronised the artist Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger to paint the 'Ditchley portrait' of Elizabeth I.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Sir Henry Lee

Date

1568

Medium

oil on panel

Measurements

H 64.1 x W 53.3 cm

Accession number

2095

Acquisition method

Given by Harold Lee-Dillon, 17th Viscount Dillon, 1925

Work type

Painting

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