Art historian with an interest in visual messages
Some years ago I was asked to mentor a new researcher into Tudor history, Heather Darsie, who was researching a new biography of Anna, Duchess of Cleves - Henry VIII's fourth wife. You would have thought that over the years the various historians specialising in Tudor history had drained this particular pot dry. However, this… Continue reading Anna, Duchess of Cleves: The King’s Beloved Sister
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
Today we are used to seeing the English royals on TV, in photos on social media, and on the front of our newspapers. Back in the 16th century the royal family were rarely seen in public, therefore their faces were mostly unknown except by the social elite of the court. If I were to ask… Continue reading Thomas Cromwell (1495-1540): Creator of the “Tudor Brand”
In the British Library we have a collection of illuminated manusripts that are as important to our national culture as the history of battles won and lost by kings long gone. Gifts by George II and George III form the core of the British Library known as the King’s Stack. George II gave 2000 volumes,… Continue reading Illuminated manuscripts fit for a King
Melanie V Taylor 