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 at 22 
 
One of the few portraits of the adult Essex which show him from the same angle as the Flower Boy. The hair has a suggestion of auburn, the moustache is sandy and the nose still looks fairly straight. The jawline is heavy and masculine.