Portrait of a Woman
by HILLIARD, Nicholas, Vellum laid on card, 27 x 22 mm (oval)
Formerly the miniature was thought to be a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I attributed to the school of Hilliard, now it is considered as an authentic miniature by Nicholas Hilliard, painted with much refinement on the small scale he increasingly used throughout the 1590s. The identification of Elizabeth I is inadmissible, and there is as yet no clue to the sitter’s name.