Comment on the Ditchley Portrait of Elizabeth I

The first thing that captures my eye in this image is Elizabeth's outfit. It makes her seem out of proportion. Well, there goes the fashion of her day. How the image is a portrait of a queen and one way or another it does reflect England in Elizabeth I's reign. In the background is the division of day and night. Technically, the sun rises from the east which makes the majority of visual arts place daylight on the right. Here, the darkness represents the right side. I wonder why. If I were to say that perhaps darkness ruled this era, it would make no sense. Unless of course it does with the painter who thought of such. It really is peculiar to find the clear sky on the left...
The next thing I'd like to take notice of is the "floor" she's stepping on. I can't ell if it's England, or Europe or anything but uhm I would say that the Queen, stepping on a piece of land signifies something. For one is power; another is authority. She is a ruler and she is above this land. It tells so much, although somehow in a negative way. A true ruler wold not step on his/her people. Although, when I think of it, evn God makes the earth His footstool. So I guess it justifies Elizabeth stepping upon her kingdom. But then again, it's always another case.
I wonder what the red spots are for. I take them as legends in a map, whatever those legends stand for. They could be marks of capitals, or battlegrounds...or something else. Well, whatever they are, they provide the conviction that Elizabeth is indeed sanding on a map, which brings us back to the preceding paragraph.
What about Elizabeth's outfit? Well...it's Victorian fashion obviously but what I'd like to take note of are the flowers and jewels all over her. They say that the leader represents the whole (or at least, in most cases). The reason why I'm saying this is because Elizabeth's dress-up could and would provide clues on how England was like. Surely a leader would reflect his/her people.
The flowers. Of course, it would sound cheesy if I would say that the people then were flowery. Sadly enough, I will go with that phrase. It's true anyway. The literature and other forms of text during the Elizabethan period did truly "flower" or bloom. Beyond euphemism, there sprouted great writers who truly were creative, especially when it came to the language of the arts (and vice versa). The English language itself bloomed and developed in this era.
The jewels. Well, obviously England was rich in those times. Otherwise, why call it the Golden Age? England flourished in pragmatically all areas. This of course brought the land to a higher success and level of prosperity. Of course, it looked good on them as the jewels finely suited the queen. What's with the black ring on her left hand's pinky? Well, I honestly would like to have a smart remark on it. Unfortunately, I have none. I could come up with something but I'd rather not try. If it counts, I also wanted to say something about the fans in her ands. It's actually the first I noticed really. I mean, who needs two fans at the same time? For a mere portrait? Hmm... The other one is even tied up to her waist. Come'on, England does not have that hot of a weather, is a fan really necessary? I mean, practically... I guess it's all about high fashion. She is royalty after all.
Look at her crown. I noiced that kings and queens when they are delegated wear the same crown but everything else after this glorious ceremony, they don't wear it anymore. Rarely do they come to it. Royalty either comes up with their own crown or wear none at all. What's up with that?
Lastly comes the board behind her. I think it's a decree or something. The law perhaps. But if it is in fact the law, why put it behind? So, the king-slash-queen is the law now? It is true after all. At least, in her time it was. The ruler always had the last say Only is it now is the queen obsolete, everything is left to the parliament and the prime minister. The queen is now just an accessory (for lack of a better term, I'll use that). It's true anyway. Like a professor once said to his class: "You don't go to England to see the prime minister, you'd like to see the queen!" Well, he's almost perfectly right ha-ha.