Zenobia (from the Amberley Castle 'Heroines of Antiquity') (Amberley Queens)

Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, was depicted as part of Lambert Barnard's Amberley Castle 'Heroines of Antiquity' series, painted around 1526 for the Bishop of Chichester's castle at Amberley, West Sussex. The series — of which multiple panels survive at the Novium Museum in Chichester — presented legendary warrior queens and heroines from classical antiquity, a programme reflecting the humanist interest in exemplary women that had developed through the fifteenth century from Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris. Zenobia, who led a third-century revolt against Rome, was among the most celebrated of these figures, her military and intellectual reputation making her a favourite of humanist scholars.

Oil on panel. The Amberley heroine panels follow a standardised format — half-length figure, inscription identifying the subject, attribute marking her identity. Barnard's style reflects the provincial English adaptation of Flemish and early Mannerist influence filtering through the court of Henry VIII. Costume anachronistically reflects Tudor fashion rather than classical antiquity.