portrait @ longleat house believed of dorothy , penelope devereux c. 1581
penelope rich considered 1 of beauties of elizabeth s court. golden-haired dark eyes, gifted singer , dancer, fluent in french, italian, , spanish.
penelope traditionally thought have inspired philip sidney s sonnet sequence astrophel , stella (sometimes spelled astrophil , stella). composed in 1580s, first of famous english sonnet sequences, , contains 108 sonnets , 11 songs. many of poems circulated in manuscript form before first edition printed thomas newman in 1591, 5 years after sidney s death. set french lutenist charles tessier , published in london in 1597.
whether sidney fell passionately in love penelope in years between arrival @ court in 1581 , own marriage in 1583, or whether stella sonnets courtly amusements reflecting fashionable poetic conceits may never known. in essay sidney, stella, , lady rich , katherine duncan-jones writes:
no 1 since 1935 has doubted sidney intended first readers of astropil , stella, whoever may have been, link stella lady rich. exact nature of sidney s relationship famous beauty , more ticklish matter ...
sidney died of wounds received @ battle of zutphen in 1586. in 1590, penelope s brother essex married sidney s widow frances, daughter of sir francis walsingham, , lady rich cultivated poets , musicians during brother s ascendancy @ court in 1590s. poet richard barnfield dedicated affectionate shepherd, first work, published anonymously in november 1594, penelope rich. bartholomew yong dedicated translation of jorge de montemayor s diana (1598) her; , sonnets addressed john davies of hereford , (to portrait nicholas hilliard) henry constable.
the queen s miniaturist nicholas hilliard known have painted 2 miniatures of lady rich, in 1589 , 1590 respectively. 1 given james vi of scotland (later james of england) , other french ambassador. miniature in royal collection (above) may 1 of these. charles tessier dedicated book of part-songs in french , italian, le premier livre de chansons, madame riche , commending (in italian) musical judgement, , john dowland composed lady rich s galliard in honour.
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