Princess Elizabeth in the Tower

1860

Oil on canvas

Overall: 36 1/4 x 48 in. ( 92.1 x 121.9 cm )
Framed: 49 1/4 in. × 61 in. × 4 in. (125.1 × 154.9 × 10.2 cm)

The Robert L. Stuart Collection, the gift of his widow Mrs. Mary Stuart

S-187

Commissioned by Robert L. Stuart, Leutze’s painting shows the future Elizabeth I after her interrogation in the Tower of London, where she was held by her half sister, Queen Mary, in 1554. The matter involved Elizabeth’s loyalty to the Protestant cause in the face of her sister’s militant Catholicism. But elements such as the statue of the Virgin and Child were occasionally interpreted as evidence of Elizabeth’s religious ambivalence, insinuating that her motives were founded on political rather than spiritual matters. For Stuart, a fervent Presbyterian, the religious compromise associated with Elizabeth’s character may have reverberated strongly as he wrestled with his own moral stance on slavery.

SignedSigned and dated at lower right: "E. Leutze, 1860"

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