Queen Elizabeth Receiving Dutch Ambassadors
This sixteenth-century Dutch painting by an anonymous artist depicts a pair of Dutch ambassadors being received by England’s Queen Elizabeth I. The seventeen provinces that constituted the Dutch Republic were in rebellion against Spanish rule in the later decades of the sixteenth century and hoped for Elizabeth’s support. In 1585 she signed the Treaty of Nonsuch, pledging her support for the Dutch cause. An undeclared war with Spain ensued, punctuated by the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. © Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel/The Bridgeman Art Library.