Art historian with an interest in visual messages
Henry VIII’s court, particularly through the lens of Anne Boleyn and the Devonshire Manuscript, reflects a fascinating interplay of power, poetry, and sedition. Compiled by Boleyn's courtiers in the 1520s, the manuscript’s ambiguous verses provide insights into the dynamics of court life, ambition, and the eventual downfalls of key figures associated with Anne.
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
Previously unknown portrait in a private collection.
Mine eye hath play’d the painter and hath steel’d Thy beauty’s form in the table of my heart; My body is the frame wherein ’tis held, And perspective is the painter’s art. For through the painter must you see his skill, To find where your true image pictured lies; Which in my bosom’s shop is… Continue reading Mine eye hath play’d the painter
Hilliard’s lovely portrait of his beloved Alice now in the V&A, London
Melanie V Taylor 