Attributed to Robert Peake the Elder c.1551-1619

Elizabeth Throckmorton was the daughter of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, an important figure in the early years of Elizabeth's reign, and his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Nicholas Carew.  She was maid of honour to Elizabeth I, and her affair with Sir Walter Raleigh, the Queen's favourite, led to the imprisonment of both Raleigh and his future wife in 1592.  Raleigh was freed after only a couple of months and the couple married later that year.  However they were forbidden to come to Court.  They settled at Sherborne where Raleigh had obtained a lease of the castle and park, and he set about laying out the grounds, repairing the old castle and building a fine new house close by.  By 1594 Raleigh's restless spirit led to plans to set sail in search of Spanish gold.  His wife tried to dissuade him, begging Cecil "rather to stay him than further him", but he set sail early next year.  He failed to find favour with the new King and James I sent him to the Tower in 1603.  A further expedition in search of gold led to his temporary release but its failure led to his execution in 1618.  Of Raleigh's two sons, Walter was killed in 1618 on his father's last foreign adventure, whilst Carew married Philippa Weston, 'the rich widow of Sir Anthony Ashley'. 

The sitter is shown in a beautiful dress of circa 1600-1610, made in the Elizabethan tradition, with a low square neckline, full sleeves and a fan shaped tiered standing collar of elaborate cutwork, with detached points of needle lace.  Both the stomacher front and the large balloon sleeves are worked in silks and gold threads with a series of coiling plants of the kind grown in an English country garden.  These include borage and strawberries.  The embroidery also includes honeysuckle, an emblem of affection and faithfulness.  There is an overlay of silk gauze woven with a lattice of gold threads and a horizontal band of needlelace across the top of the stomacher.  The acorn shaped pouch on her shoulder probably contained a love token or favour.