On the top floor of Hardwick Hall, five wall hangings of noblewomen—Zenobia, Lucretia, Cleopatra, Penelope, and Artemisia—once adorned the high walls of Bess of Hardwick’s small private chamber. These women were not only of noble birth but also of noble character, bringing to mind all 16th-century womanly virtues. During the Renaissance, there was renewed interest in classical mythology and history, and the stories of Lucretia, Penelope, and Artemisia were quite popular, Elena Williams, senior house steward at Hardwick Hall, explained by phone. “People like Bess and those who were educated would have known of these stories, so they would have recognized and understood the hangings,” she said. Architect Robert Smythson and Bess of Hardwick, also known as Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury—the second most influential woman in England, after Queen Elizabeth I—created Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, in the north of England, between 1590 and 1597. Hardwick Hall is one of only …