Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
British Galleries
Room 57 covers the era of Queen Elizabeth I. Find rare miniature portraits—a popular
item of the day—including Hilliard's oft-reproduced
Young Man Among Roses
miniature,
capturing the romance of a Shakespeare sonnet. Also in the room are musical instruments
and suits of armor—a love-and-war combination appropriate to the Elizabethan Age. Fin-
ally, there's the Great Bed of Ware. Built as a tourist-attracting gimmick by an English inn
around 1600, this four-poster bed still wows. You and six of your favorite friends could
bed down here, taking a well-earned rest after this eclectic tour.
Continue into the next room (Room 58), dedicated to
Birth, Marriage and Death,
and
displaying swaddling clothes, a wedding portrait, and a casket pall. Continuing on, you'll
pass through a couple of alcoves with Tudor-era tapestries. The far end of Room 58, de-
voted to Henry VIII, has a portrait of him; his writing box (with quill pens, ink, and seal-
ing wax); and a whole roomful of the fancy furniture, tapestries, jewelry, and dinnerware
that may have decorated his palaces.
