Art historian with an interest in visual messages
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
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
Previously unknown portrait in a private collection.
Nicholas Hilliard 1577 (Copyright V&A Museum, London. 41mm dia) We know little about Nicholas Hilliard. The bare facts are that he was born in Exeter in about 1547, to Richard and Laurance Hilliard and was their eldest child. Richard Hilliard was a goldsmith and, together with John Bodley, was a leading light in Exeter society. … Continue reading Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619)
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
Melanie V Taylor 