"The National Portrait Gallery in association with the National Trust presents this introductory guide to Tudor and Jacobean portraits. Many of these important works are in museums and country houses across the United Kingdom, and this accessible book invites you to look afresh and to understand why and how the portraits were created. There are sections on costume, pictures with stories to tell, the monarchy, family portraits and artist techniques. Antonia Fraser's foreword shows how portraiture illuminates history and how people chose to present themselves, such as the dashing Sir Walter Ralegh in his exquisite pearl-encrusted cloak or the ageless imperial image of Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen."--BOOK JACKET.