# Elizabethan Portrait Artists **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2002, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabethan-portrait-artists/111940 "2002-06-01T21:21:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabethan-portrait-artists/111940/1 "2002-06-01T21:21:33Z")
I saw a special on the History Channel today and they showed some portraits of Queen Elizabeth , Mary Queen of Scots and their paramours, and all the portraits showed the eyes as “bugging out”. Was this considered an attractive feature, or did those artists just have trouble painting eyes? One of the artists apparently had trouble with perspective as well: he painted one of the Dukes on horseback. The body of the horse was fine but the head was really small in comparison. Oh yeah, while I’m at it: What’s the deal with some statues not having eyes with irises and pupils? Seems like a minor thing; just leave enough marble there to make a raised circle. Sorry if I sounded like Andy Rooney in that post! 🙂 It’s just something that I’ve always wondered about and I knew I could get an answer here. And I **know** we can’t dig 'em up and ask 'em, okay? 😃 Thanks Quasi