Mary Stewart/Stuart: from official pictorial and poetic portraiture to versified and embroidered self-depiction and assertion.

Résumé En

Mary Stewart / Stuart was King James V of Scotland and Queen consort Marie de Guise’s daughter. This study deals with the portraiture of Marie Stuart Queen of France / Mary Stewart Queen of Scots. Throughout her life, Queen Mary Stuart’s picturing cast some light on her progression, as a baby queen, as a princess, as a queen consort, and as a sovereign on the national and international grounds. From her royal identity in construct, to her final collapse and tragic death, her numerous portraits —whatever their supports and targets— kept mirroring her evolution. Her post-mortem rehabilitation is both graphic, pictorial and monumental. This paper focuses on the passage from Queen Mary Stuart’s official and æsthetic representations, from her pictorial and poetic portraiture, to her versified and embroidered self-depiction and assertion. It hints at artistic supports and techniques used to picture her(self), their symbolism, and highlights historical contextual elements in the background.