When I went on my annual ritual of attending the Folger’s ‘Shakespeare Birthday Bash,‘ I came across a fantastic portrait of Elizabeth that I had never seen before.

Not so much that I previously believed I had seen all portraits ever made of her, but rather that I was mostly just aware of the Folger’s collection of paintings of Shakespearean themese from later centuries.

This was a beautiful bit of portraiture from the late sixteenth century and it’s just… just amazing. It’s known as the ‘Sieve’ portrait and was painted by George Gower.