3-056-817 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, c1743-c1751. English courtier and favourite of Queen Elizabeth I (1567-1601). In 1599, he requested that he be made lord lieutenant of Ireland, and went to Ireland to quell the rebellion of the Earl of Tyrone. Essex made an unauthorized truce with Tyrone and returned to England, where he was tried for disobedience, deprived of his offices, and banned from the court. He planned a coup that would get rid of his enemies around the queen and establish those in favour of him around her. However the queen's government was more than prepared, and he was arrested. With great reluctance Elizabeth I signed his death warrant, and Essex was executed. At the bottom of his medallion portrait, is his head and the executioner's axe. A cherub weeps for him.