“The 16th century brought to life by precision photography"
Our upcoming major exhibition Elizabeth and Mary: Royal Cousins, Rival Queens explores the turbulent relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots in their own words.
They never met but their fates were intertwined. From their shared beginnings, facing the challenge of ruling in a man’s world, original handwritten letters between the opposing queens show how paranoia turned sisterly affection to suspicion. And this dangerous world of plots, espionage and treachery is brilliantly captured through some of the most significant manuscripts, printed works and objects in our collection, as well as loans from notable institutions such as Hatfield House, Ingatestone Hall and Chequers. Many of these needed to be digitised for the exhibition and the accompanying catalogue. Our photographer, Jonathon Vines, stepped up to the challenge.
Jonathon regularly supplies images for our retail, licensing and publishing teams. He tells us how his team played a key role in the build-up to the exhibition and creation of the catalogue.
Sir William Cecil was the principal secretary in Elizabeth I’s early years as Queen but remained a trusted advisor to her up until his death in 1598.
Sir Robert Cecil was the younger son of Lord Burley who became Principal Secretary in 1596. He entered into secret correspondence with James VI in 1601 and managed his ascension on Elizabeth I’s death.
The portraits of these two men are not just some of the finest 16th century English oil portraiture but also provide valuable insight into the story of Elizabeth and Mary’s rivalry, and were, therefore, among the most important items in the exhibition. Capturing high quality images for the catalogue required full portrait shots in consistent studio lighting. This required a lot of preparatory work to create the right conditions while ensuring the portraits were cared for and handled correctly.
A major challenge with indoor photography of oil paintings is creating a crisp image that is glare free. Jonathon creatively mounted each portrait at an angle to ensure the light hit them consistently. He used a polarising filter material on the lamps as well as the camera lens to achieve this.
The Chequers Ring is one of the few surviving pieces of jewellery worn by Elizabeth I. The spectacular mother-of-pearl ring, set with rubies in gold, includes a locket with two portraits – one of Elizabeth I and the other thought to be Elizabeth's mother Anne Boleyn.
Unlike the portraits, the ring was small and already mounted in a display case, which made photographing it much easier. However its size presented a different challenge in getting sharp, detailed hi-res images. Jonathon used a macro lens and the technique of focus stacking to capture a focused image highlighting each intricate detail clearly.
As the depth of field was shallow, some detailed parts of the ring could be slightly out-of-focus creating a softer image. This is not ideal for jewellery images, so the process required a series of photographs with varying focal points to ensure the entire ring was covered.
With our photographic expertise and experience in handling historical items with care and precision we were able to capture the perfect catalogue shots. But more importantly we also preserved these national treasures digitally forever, for everyone to explore and enjoy.
If you’d like to see these items up close and in person you can visit Elizabeth and Mary: Royal Cousins, Rival Queens at the British Library between 8 October 2021 and 20 February 2022.
And you can see Jonathon’s photography for yourself in our catalogue, available now from the British Library shop, online or in store.
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