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The Rival Queens – Mary Queen of Scots Defying Queen Elizabeth

1868-1870
Not on view
In 1567, a powerful group of lords forced queen Mary Stuart to abdicate in favor of her infant son James. A few weeks later Mary fled to England to seek help from her second cousin Elizabeth I but, was instead placed under house arrest, and remained in England for nineteen years--eventually executed for plotting to have Elizabeth assassinated. The present dramatic confrontation could not have occurred because the two never met in person.

The New York firm of Currier & Ives grew from a printing business established by Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) in 1835. Expansion led, in 1857, to a partnership with James Merritt Ives (1824–1895). The firm operated until 1907, lithographing over 4,000 subjects for distribution across America and Europe. This uncolored example of their production demonstrates how, until the 1880s, images were printed in monochrome, with color added later by women who worked for the company.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Rival Queens – Mary Queen of Scots Defying Queen Elizabeth
  • Artist: Currier & Ives (American, active New York, 1857–1907)
  • Sitter: Mary, Queen of Scots (British, Linlithgow 1542–1587 Fotheringhay)
  • Sitter: Elizabeth I, Queen of England (1533–1603)
  • Artist: after Wilhelm von Kaulbach (German, Arolsen 1804–1874 Munich)
  • Date: 1868-1870
  • Medium: Hand-colored lithograph with gum arabic
  • Dimensions: Image: 12 1/8 × 8 3/8 in. (30.8 × 21.2 cm)
    Image and text: 13 1/4 × 8 3/8 in. (33.7 × 21.3 cm)
    Sheet: 17 3/4 × 13 1/2 in. (45.1 × 34.3 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of Susan Dwight Bliss, 1958
  • Object Number: 58.549.65
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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