Princess Elizabeth

This painting is called Princess Elizabeth, second daughter of Charles I, at the ages of 3, 5, and 6. The painter is anonymous, it's not dated. This painting hangs in the Roy Miles Fine Paintings Museum, in London.

There are several things I find strange about this painting. One of the first is that the author is so secretive about it. It's OK to let people know you painted it. It's not all that bad.

Honestly, I don't get the point of doing the girl three times at different ages. I realize they probably didn't have cameras when the picture was drawn. Unless Charles I and his wife wanted their daughter holding hands with herself, this is a strange way of tracking the girl's growth. I would have done one portrait at age 3, another at age 5, and another at age 6.

The thing that really creeps me out is the fact that she's wearing the same dress and the same shoes, but different sizes. I wouldn't have wanted to get clothing of the same style, but a size bigger. If it was my choice, I would have gotten at elast a different colored dress.

On the other hand, there are slight differences in the outfits of hte girl. (I don't know if i should be plural or now: it's the same girl, but drawn three times.) The variable is the light yellow-green scarf. In the image on the left, it's tied around the girl's arm. In the second image - crossed on her chest, in the third - under each shoulder and in front.

Another difference is the necklace. They appear similar from far away, but when you look at them, they're different. They are aso wearing differet hair accessories - the small jeweled things in the middle in their hair are slightly different.

In this painting, the young child, despite being only three years old (five and six also), doesn't look like little kids usually do. I don't quite know what it is about her, but you can tell she's some sort of royalty.

She is much taller each year. Maybe the queen wanted to brag about her young daughter who is "growing up so quickly" to all her friends, and had her drawn at ages 3, 6, and 8. It certainly looks like it!