Art historian with an interest in visual messages
When you sit down to your Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners you may not realise it but you are about to enjoy dishes once presented and eaten at the court of Henry VIII and his queen, Katharine of Aragon. In America, according to popular belief, the Thanksgiving Dinner celebrates the survival of the first year the… Continue reading Food Fit for Kings
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.
The Cromwell Enigma by Derek Wilson, published by MaryleboneHouse. When it comes to Thomas Cromwell (1485 – 1540), what more of an enigma can there be than the paucity of detail for the years he spent abroad prior to becoming the indispensable secretary to Cardinal Wolsey and then the man who administered the affairs of… Continue reading The Cromwell Enigma – A Review
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
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 I 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
Melanie V Taylor 