Nicholas Hilliard's miniature dates from the early 1580s when the artist was at the apogee of his career. Hilliard had first been employed by Elizabeth I to paint her portrait in miniature in 1572 (now in the National Portrait Gallery). The result of that sitting was a fresh and natural image of the young queen; a decade later, when the present miniature was painted, Hilliard's representations of the Queen were becoming increasingly stylised.