Elizabeth I and Dudley miniatures fetch UK£72,000

Submitted by Milica on Sun, 2009-12-13 17:19
A pair of miniatures, painted by Nicholas Hilliard, and depicting Elizabeth I and her favorite, Robert Dudley, were auctioned recently for UK£72,000. The portraits were believed to have been painted around 1575. (photo)

Camilla Lombardi, head of the portrait miniatures department at Bonham’s, which conducted the sale, said the miniatures would have been a present from one to the other, mounted back to back or side by side inside a jewel. “They might well have been set into a ring or a jewelled locket hanging from the clothing. Both men and women wore miniatures like that at the time.”