This article focuses on those who created the portrait miniatures from the mid 1520s until 1603 and how, thanks to the talents of the artists employed at the Tudor court, we are able to identify some aristocratic sitters of the 16th century. Links to images and articles are in bold italics. Portraits of the aspiring… Continue reading Illuminators of the Tudor Court
As Epiphany approaches, we remember how the Holy Family were visited by three wise men from the East. However they, having foreseen the arrival of the new King of the Jews, had gone to King Herod thinking they would find the infant Christ there. Herod had no knowledge of the birth of a new king,… Continue reading The Adoration of the Kings
And she [Mary] brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Lo, the angel of the Lord… Continue reading The Adoration of the Shepherds
It is only a couple of days to Christmas Eve and two thousand years ago Joseph and Mary were probably heading to Bethlehem to be counted for the census called by Caesar August. Their arrival in Bethlehem is not one that is usually recorded visually, but there are a few marginal images hidden in some… Continue reading Mary & Joseph arrive in Bethlehem
During this Christmas week of waiting, I have wondered about Mary's early life, her parents and how their story is portrayed in images. There are only 150 manuscripts that refer to the parents of the Virgin, including the apocryphal Gospel of St James, known as the Protovangelium, which was written in the second century A.D.… Continue reading The early life of The Virgin Mary
In Christmas week our focus is on the birth of Christ on Christmas day, but the story really starts nine months earlier with the visitation of an angel to a young woman. The angel is Gabriel, who reveals to a young woman called Mary that she has been chosen by God and will bear a… Continue reading The Annunciation
On a chilly November Sunday night the congregation of the chapel royal at Hampton Court Palace experienced a religious service last held over 400 years ago during the reign of Mary Tudor when the form of liturgy used in the royal chapels was the Catholic Use of Sarum. Thomas Tallis (1505-1585), Gentleman of the Chapel… Continue reading Hampton Court Chapel – sung Eucharist by Thomas Tallis
