Elizabethan portrait as inspiration for the make-up design

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Darnley_stage_3.jpg

The "Darnleu portrait" is the portrait I've chosen as my inspiration for the final make-up design. The pale complexion, the red lips, and rosy cheeks, are definitely the elements I want to use in my final design, as these are the basic elements for creating the Elizabethan look. Paying attention at the details that the Queen is wearing in this portrait, I was thinking that it would be very interesting to include some small details into the final design in  order to  create an original look and symbolic at the same time. So let's observe and analyze the portrait above:

    The Queen is wearing a  luxurious silk  dress and silver gilt thread on the sleeve that reflect her wealth and style.  The exquisitely painted pendant jewel hanging from the queen’s waist is a large red ruby surrounded by Roman gods. Minerva (the goddess of wisdom) is depicted at the top, Jupiter (ruler of the gods) of at the base and Venus(goddess of love), Cupid and Mars (gods of love and war) at the sides. Elizabeth was highly educated and it is possible that this jewel refers to her classical learning. The fan as made of exotic feathers would have been imported from the New World, they show in her portraits how successful she was at world exploration and expansion. Her majesty is also wearing pearls which were used to present Elizabeth as the goddess of the Moon(because of their resemblance to the Moon). They also are considerated symbols of purity. On the top of her head, the sitter is wearing a crown that seem to be made of pears as well and it symbolises royality as well as it is significant for what She was called- " The virgin Queen"(because made of pearls).

    Of course I cannot put all these iconic elements into my make- up design, because it will be overfull of details,that's why I have chose to use one of the symbolic accessories- The Pearls. I've chosen the pearls because I believe that they are the most symbolic for the Queen as they are used in the majority of her portraits. In addition I'm thinks that Including the crown in the final design would be a good idea as it is made of pearls and the most important thing is it's meaning- Royality.

Here is a facechart in which I tried to represent an Elizabethan look including some iconic elements like white complexion, red lips, red cheeks and pearls:

The white dots are interpretated ast pearls.

Reference for symbols: http://www.npg.org.uk/assets/files/pdf/displays/concealedandrevealed/panel3.pdf