Search Results: Titles starting with Q from The Raab Collection

Queen Elizabeth I Son of an Exeter goldsmith and trained as a jeweller, Nicholas Hilliard was appointed Court Miniaturist and Goldsmith by Elizabeth I about 1570. He was head and shoulders above his contemporaries and dominated the field in his era. His finest artistic creation and the one he is best remembered for today is his Great Seal of Queen Elizabeth, which was appended to significant documents to indicate the Queen’s assent. His was the second of three seals she had made during her long reign, and by all accounts the best.The Seal is three-dimensional. Its recto shows the Queen circa 1584 on her Renaissance-era throne, the ruff curving up to support the face, the skirt thick with folds, the crown surmounting her curls, the full hands holding the royal insignia, and the royal coat of arms besides. The verso illustrates the Queen in profile riding on horseback.This is an original Hilliard Seal in good condition, the relief still strong, the elements clear, but with age-toning and some loss of… Read More

18/10/1882. Queen Victoria “It has been a great pleasure for me to mark my respect & gratitude to my beloved friend, in doing any thing for you. I fear the blank, the dreary objectlessness comparatively speaking must increase for some time.”Gerald Wellesley, nephew of the great Duke of Wellington, was appointed personal chaplain to the Queen in 1849, becoming Dean of Windsor in 1854. He married Magdalen ‘Lily’ Montagu, daughter of Lord Rokeby, in 1856. The couple were in constant contact with the royal family, and he was one of the Queen’s closest advisors. He died in 1882. The couple’s only child died in early 1883 at age 18. Both were laid to rest in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. Prince Albert, Victoria’s husband, had died in 1861, and Victoria went into deep mourning. Thus, in 1882 both Victoria and Lily had lost their husbands to early deaths, and Lily would lose a son soon after.Autograph letter signed, on her Loch Munch letterhead, October 18. 1882, to Lily, saying that… Read More