This is awesome!! So there is some anonymously painted portrait of Elizabeth I holding roses that curators x-rayed and found that instead of roses, originally it was suppose to be a serpent in Elizabeth’s hand.

From The Independent:

“As the centuries wore away the top layer of paint on the canvas, curators became steadily more convinced that something else lay beneath the roses which Elizabeth is holding. It was not until the work was analysed with X-ray and infra-red technology two months ago that the snake’s shape was discovered. “What we now believe is that the serpent was completely finished before it was quickly painted over at the very final stages, just before the final varnish was applied,” said Dr Cooper.

The Queen was known to have some items of jewellery in a snake-like form, Dr Cooper added, but an image of the serpent wrapping itself so seductively around the Queen’s hand may well have caused outrage. “Maybe the serpent was too difficult and ambiguous a symbol, maybe it was too dangerous an emblem. The fact that it was painted out so quickly suggests it was too difficult a symbol for the public to cope with,” she said.

David Starkey, the historian and Tudor specialist, said serpents in the 16th century held many meanings. “There was an enormous range of symbolism in the Elizabethan period and the serpent had a dual symbolism… it was undoubtedly a symbol of wisdom. There is at least one painting that shows Elizabeth I with images of green serpents on an orange taffeta dress.”"

The painting is going to be on display at the National Portrait Gallery starting March 13th through September 26.  It will be the first time the painting will be on display since 1921.

More articles:

From Times Online

From the guardian

From the Evening Standard