Art historian with an interest in visual messages
Articles in various publications have looked at Franny Moyle’s suggestion that Holbein left clues regarding the identification of one of his sitters of his miniatures being of Henry VIII’s fourth wife, Anna, Duchess of Cleves and not Katherine Howard as suggested by George Vertue writing in the 18th century. The recent article about Moyle’s theory… Continue reading How we know the Tudor Royals from 1485 – 1558; and who painted them.
For those not familiar with the genre of the portrait miniature, let us first consider why and when these portraits became popular in England, and the various artists creating these images for the Tudor court. The half millennium saw a marked change from the religious themes of the medieval period to secular subjects inspired by… Continue reading The origins of the Tudor portrait miniature
Maundy Thursday marked the beginning of the most solemn part of the Easter festival for the Christian Church and is also the festival of Passover in the Judaic faith. Services would normally take place in churches and synagogues, but in these days of Covid-19 the sacred places remain shut in order to contain the spread… Continue reading The Events of Holy Thursday and Good Friday through the eyes of the Northern European Masters
The narrative explores the early lives of Mary’s parents, St Anne and St Joachim, as depicted in historical manuscripts and religious art. Despite their absence in the canonical Bible, their story, including themes of barrenness and divine promise, is significant in Christian tradition, and recognized in Islam, illustrating their cultural impact across faiths.
The dawn of the sixteenth century saw the portrait being used more widely for self-promotional purposes thanks to one man - Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528). Albrecht Dürer sketched himself from the from the age of thirteen and as an adult, completing at least three individual self-portraits during his lifetime. The very first of these was a silverpoint… Continue reading Albrecht Dürer : The Master of self-promotion
Melanie V Taylor 