The Earl of Essex as a boy?
The Earl of Essex as a boy?
Elizabethan portraiture is a fascinating subject, not least because most of the sitters look like nobody on god's earth. Also, they are quite frequently identified as a) Queen Elizabeth or b) Mary Queen of Scots even when they are male. So arguing the identity of an Elizabethan portrait on the grounds it looks a bit like another portrait is not really the act of a rational being. Still...
Essex aged @ 24 
 
The hair again is dark, and the moustache sandier. So is he a ginger who has darkened with age?