This project was very interesting to me because previously, I did not know to what extent the British people rallied around Elizabeth and the Protestant reformation. Through my research I learned a good number of things, including the idea of Elizabeth as a godly figure, and the use of color when attempting to portray how pure or noble somebody is. The protestant reformation is important because even today in England and Scotland, you see a lot of tension between the Catholics and Protestants, whether it’s on certain holidays or the local soccer match. I realized from a very early age that religion was something that people took very seriously, and I was interested in making that the basis to a project. I knew when we started talking about cuutural interests in regards to the Early Modern period I knew that my first choice would be the switch from Catholic rule to Anglican rule during the time periods. If I had a bit more time with this project, I think I would like to go somewhere with it that explores Catholic sympathizer paintings at the time. Catholics were still a big part of the culture of England at this point, and seeing their take on the so called Virgin Queen would have been a fun contrast when looking at the way art was used to convey power and monarchy. My favorite part of the assignment had to be looking at the portraits of Mary during the time, because I just found it humorous that she looked the exact same in all of her paintings.

The Making of Monarchs2