European royal portraits: how Europe's courts painted their rulers

From the 11th century to the start of the 20th, the kings and queens of Europe paid artists to show them to their people and to other rulers. This guide is about how they were shown: the poses they took, the objects placed around them, the clothes that marked their rank, and the painters who served their courts. It runs from the wax seals of medieval kings to the photographs of Queen Victoria, and it explains how to read any royal portrait you meet in a museum. Each period and each theme has its own page, listed further down. This main page gives the overview, and at the end it links that history to the six European styles you can choose for a portrait of your dog or cat.

What a royal portrait was for

A portrait is a picture of a particular person. Tate in London explains that before photography, a painted, sculpted or drawn portrait was the only way to record what someone looked like. It says portraits have also always been used to show the power, importance, virtue, beauty, wealth, taste or learning of the sitter, the person being portrayed. Tate adds that portraits have almost always been flattering, and that painters who refused to flatter, such as William Hogarth, tended to find their work rejected. It names Francisco de Goya as an exception, for his apparently bluntly truthful portraits of the Spanish royal family. Portraiture itself is ancient: Tate traces it back at least to ancient Egypt, where it flourished 5,000 years ago by Tate's approximate dating.

A royal portrait had one more job: to say, at a glance, "this person rules". To do that, painters placed the ruler high in the picture, surrounded him or her with objects that only a monarch could use, dressed the sitter in cloth and fur that the law reserved for the highest ranks, and often wrote the name and title on the picture itself. A royal pet portrait borrows the same signs. When your cat wears a crown and ermine, or your dog stands in a general's coat, the picture uses the same signs that European court painters used for centuries.

Court painters

Most royal portraits were made by court painters. Tate says royal courts were for centuries a major source of work for artists, and that monarchs gave their painters titles such as "King's painter". In England, Henry VIII brought Hans Holbein from abroad, Elizabeth I supported the miniature painter Nicholas Hilliard, and Charles I appointed Anthony van Dyck his principal painter.

The story in order

The way Europe's rulers were shown changed over the centuries. Each step has its own page.

The Middle Ages. Before the painted portrait, a king appeared on his seal. The National Archives in London says every English monarch since Edward the Confessor has used a double-sided great seal, nearly always showing the ruler enthroned on one side and on horseback on the other. Painted likenesses followed in the 1300s: the Louvre dates its portrait of John II of France to 1355 to 1360, and Westminster Abbey calls its panel of Richard II, from the 1390s, the earliest known portrait of an English monarch. Read more in medieval royal portraits.

The Renaissance and the Tudors. Rulers kept painters on their staff, and portraits became planned statements of a family's right to rule. The Armada portrait of Elizabeth I survives in three versions, at the Queen's House in Greenwich, at Woburn Abbey and at the National Portrait Gallery in London, and Royal Museums Greenwich explains that once a picture of the queen's face was approved, many paintings were made from it. See Renaissance and Tudor portraits.

The Baroque 1600s. Many portraits were painted at life size for palace walls. Velázquez painted Philip IV of Spain for four decades, and the National Gallery says copies of his last portrait of the king were given to courtiers and visiting dignitaries. The Palace of Versailles says Rigaud's portrait of Louis XIV became an emblem of absolute monarchy across Europe. See Baroque court portraits.

The Rococo 1700s. At the French court the style turned lighter, with pale silks and graceful poses. Madame de Pompadour used portraits to protect her place at court, the Wallace Collection says, and Vigée Le Brun painted Marie-Antoinette. See Rococo court portraits.

Georgian and Regency Britain. British painters served four kings named George. Ramsay's coronation portrait of George III was copied over and over, Reynolds brought an idealised "grand manner" to portraits, and Lawrence became principal painter to the king. See Georgian and Regency portraits.

The Victorian age. Winterhalter painted Queen Victoria and her family for twenty years. In May 1860, the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra says, John Jabez Edwin Mayall photographed the royal family, and the queen allowed the pictures to be sold to the public. Tate says photography went on to become the most important medium of traditional portraiture, turning an expensive luxury into something almost everyone could afford. See Victorian royal portraits.

Portraits that travelled

A royal portrait was often made to leave the palace. Royal Museums Greenwich says portraits of Elizabeth I were commissioned as official gifts for foreign monarchs and favoured courtiers. The National Gallery says copies of Velázquez's last portrait of Philip IV were given to members of the court and to visiting dignitaries. In France, the Wallace Collection says, a workshop of copyists at Versailles called the Cabinet du Roi reproduced official portraits of Louis XV for embassies, public buildings and loyal friends. The Palace of Versailles still holds portraits of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert by Winterhalter from 1842, sent as gifts to the King of the French.

So the same image of a ruler could hang in many places at once, which is one reason several versions of a royal portrait often survive.

Queens, regents and the women of the court

Royal portraits of women carried their own messages. Elizabeth I ruled in her own right and shaped her image with care, as the page on Renaissance and Tudor portraits explains. The National Gallery's portrait of Queen Mariana of Spain from 1666 shows a widow in mourning who ruled as regent for her young son, holding a petition to show her official duties. Tate, writing about the Baroque in Britain, says portraits were one of the few ways in which women at court could exercise power. In France, the Wallace Collection says Madame de Pompadour used her portraits to project confidence and loyalty when her place at court was insecure.

The three things to read: pose, objects and clothes

Every royal portrait can be read through the same three questions.

How is the ruler posed? The National Gallery says the strict side view, or profile, was adopted from the heads of emperors on Roman coins and medals, so it became a symbol of power. Later painters turned the face toward us in a three-quarter view, showed the ruler standing full length near life size, or put the ruler on a horse. The page on royal portrait poses explains each one.

What objects are around the ruler? Royal Museums Greenwich sums up the basic set: crowns, orbs and sceptres all signified monarchy. Ermine, a white fur with black tail tips, was restricted to royalty and the high nobility, according to the same museum. A gold chain with a badge usually marks an order of knighthood. The National Gallery says the chain in Van Dyck's equestrian portrait of Charles I marks him as a member of the Order of the Garter, and his baton signals his military rank. See symbols of royal power.

What is the ruler wearing? Clothes showed rank, and some were even controlled by law. They could also be arranged for the picture: the Wallace Collection says Louis-Michel van Loo's portrait of Louis XV combines robes worn on two different days of his coronation. See royal portrait costume, and for uniforms, batons and medals, military portraits.

How to read a European royal portrait, step by step

1. Find the sitter's eyes. A ruler who does not meet your gaze may be showing rank. The National Gallery says the doge of Venice in Giovanni Bellini's portrait does not return our look because no viewer was his equal.
2. Check how much of the body you see, and the size of the canvas. The National Gallery says visitors to Gerrit van Honthorst's near life-size portrait of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, would have judged her status partly from its size.
3. Look at the hands. A sceptre, a baton, a petition or a sword each tells you about the sitter's role.
4. Read the clothes and the fur. Ermine, lace, pearls and the collar of an order point to rank.
5. Look behind the sitter. A column, a heavy curtain or a battle in the distance adds meaning. The Louvre in Paris, which holds Rigaud's Louis XIV of 1701, says the column in that portrait stands for strength, with a figure of Justice on its base.
6. Look for words. Seals carried the owner's name around the edge, and Velázquez signed a paper in Philip IV's hand as "Painter to Your Majesty".

Common mistakes when reading royal portraits

Taking the picture as a record of fact. Portraits could flatter and invent. Royal Museums Greenwich calls the Armada portrait "in many ways a glorious fiction", because it shows the Spanish fleet destroyed when over two thirds of its ships returned home. The National Gallery says the Wilton Diptych shows Richard II as a beardless youth, although he was a grown man when it was made.

Looking for "the original". Royal Museums Greenwich says it is hard to speak of originals and copies in Tudor royal portraits, because approved patterns were painted many times. The Wallace Collection says over 100 replicas of Ramsay's George III appear to have been produced, many by Ramsay himself.

Assuming the famous painter painted everything. The Wallace Collection says Joshua Reynolds sent his sitters' clothes to specialist drapery painters, who painted the costumes for him.

Forgetting the time a portrait took. Some were quick and some were slow. The National Gallery says Queen Charlotte probably gave Thomas Lawrence only one sitting in 1789, while Colonel Tarleton sat nine times for Reynolds and Drouais spent from April 1763 to May 1764 on Madame de Pompadour.

European and Indian court portraits

India's royal courts had their own way of portraying their rulers, and Purrealism's nine Indian styles come from them. If you are choosing between a European and an Indian style, the guide to Indian court painting explains how those courts portrayed their rulers, and comparing the two helps you see which look you prefer for your pet.

Choosing a European style for your pet

Purrealism offers six European styles, and each takes its name from one of the periods in this guide.

The gallery shows these finished examples, so you can see how each style looks on a real dog or cat before you decide. If you cannot choose, the style finder further down this page asks whether your pet is a dog or a cat, a word that describes it, the clothes and a scene you like, then suggests one of the six European styles and shows an example portrait. To compare all 15 styles, Indian and European, read how to choose a royal portrait style.

The portrait studio takes one photo of up to 5 MB. You can order the portrait as a digital download or as an art print in four sizes, 8 × 10, 12 × 16, 18 × 24 and 24 × 36 inches, on matte or glossy paper. A full-length pose with a column and a curtain has more small detail, so it suits the larger sizes.