Elizabeth Peyton

Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York
Private Collection, New York
Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York
Sale: Christie’s, New York, Post-War and Contemporary Art, 14 November 2002, Lot 327
Private Collection, London
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is much brighter and more vibrant in the original, and the upper right corner tends more towards pink. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Some light dust fibre has deposited on the surface. There is evidence of minor wear to the extreme corner tips. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
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Executed at the time when Elizabeth Peyton was on the cusp of international recognition, Elisabeth I is an impeccable example of the artist’s endeavour to portray very public figures in a very private way.

A key player in the revival of the figurative portrait genre, Elizabeth Peyton is often likened to Andy Warhol because of her use of source imagery, tapped from the infinite supply of pictures readily available in the public domain. However, she sets herself apart in the removal from the original image, which is in stark contrast with Warhol’s mechanical silkscreen process, desensitizing and alienating the viewer from the icons he represents. Peyton’s spontaneous and painterly treatment of her subjects, on the other hand, magnifies the sentimental energy released from her intimate portraits, and by doing so circumvents the aura of celebrity and the weight of legends.

The ‘Virgin Queen’, along with Napoleon or Ludwig II of Bavaria also depicted in her early practice, therefore joins the pantheon of individuals she portrays with an equal nostalgia and delicate technique, with no discrimination or hierarchy; whether they are her close friends from the art world, musicians she admires, or influential historical and literary figures, "There is no separation for me between people I know through their music or photos and someone I know personally. The way I perceive them is very similar, in that there's no difference between certain qualities that I find inspiring in them." (Elizabeth Peyton quoted in: Matthew Higgs et al., Elizabeth Peyton, New York 2005, p. 16).

It is unclear which portrait of the Queen was chosen to be the source of the present work exactly, and several discrepancies lead to believe that it is actually the result of a fusion of different depictions, executed during different periods in the life of the sovereign; for instance, the long, untied hair is usually found in portraits of a young Elisabeth, when the stiff fraise collar only came into fashion later. Therefore, rather than being reminiscent of one famous portrait, Elisabeth I evokes the collective memory of the Queen, recalled from our shared imagination.

The palette of the dress, hair and background, all loosely brushed in varying hues of magenta, is brilliantly and purposefully used by the artist as a tool to blur and push the surroundings back, all the whilst focussing an imperceptible spotlight towards Elisabeth’s face. This highly ingenious use of light and illusion of depth alter the value of the painting from a simple history portrait to a highly intimate and urgent idol.