Nicholas Hilliard’s portrait of an unknown man of around 1600 (V&A Museum)A young man with dark
Nicholas Hilliard’s portrait of an unknown man of around 1600 (V&A Museum)A young man with dark hair erupting like fire in a crest on his forehead poses with his white shirt open to expose his chest. Golden flames surround him but he is unscathed. It’s an image straight out of an Elizabethan love poem. Around his neck the ardent young man wears a gold chain, and with his left hand he fondles the ornament it suspends. Within that is another miniature – the image, surely, of the person for whom this one was painted. This portrait is a none too subtle symbol of blazing desire, given as a love token – but to whom? Not necessarily a woman.At National Portrait Gallery, London - Elizabethan Treasuresvia: The Guardian -- source link
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