Portrait of Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex

Studio of Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger · 1599

The Earl of Essex was an English nobleman and a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599. In 1601, he led a failed coup d'etat against the government and was executed for treason. During the mid-1590s, while Essex was still in favor at court, he relied upon celebrated Tudor artist Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger exclusively for portrait sittings. This work is a studio variant of his most famous portrait, now housed at Woburn Abbey in England.