art
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(by Annette Carson) The Ampulla and Coronation Spoon Perhaps because they are not immediately recognizable as such, these are the oldest items in the coronation regalia and the only two that escaped the systematic destruction of royal regalia and crown jewels after the execution of Charles I. The holy oil (chrism) is poured from the…
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Sherborne is a pretty little town with a ruined castle, interesting buildings including, an abbey, and a medieval almshouse. All are well worth a visit but the 15th century almshouse is of particular note as it is still in use in its original function. As the buildings are residential, the Almshouse is not generally open…
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While reading Terry Jones‘s Who Killed Chaucer? I came upon a truly astonishing sentence. So astonishing that I have to share it with you. “…Henry VII, mysteriously, paid half a mark to a friend for eating coal…” Well, I find that hard to believe. No, no, not the bit about the coal – the fact…
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A caricature is putting the face of a joke on the body of a truth–Joseph Conrad If Joseph Conrad was correct (and I believe he was), whatever could someone in the late 15th c have been trying to tell us about Henry VII in this amusing manuscript doodle? Especially as it came from the Archbishop’s…
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HENRY “TUDOR” IN THE 21ST CENTURY?
“Tudor” justice, “wives”, Abraham Lincoln, Agrippina, Alexander the Great, Anastasia, Anne Boleyn, Augustus, Caligula, Catherine of Aragon, Catherine Parr, Christina of Denmark, Edmund “Tudor”, Elisabeth of Austria, Elizabeth I, executions, facial reconstruction, Grace Kelly, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Isabel of Castile, Jane Austen, Julius Caesar, Louis XIV, Louis XV, Madame de Pompadour, Marie Antoinette, Mary Stuart, Nefertiti, parsimonyWith advanced computer technology, more artists and other interested people are doing their own ‘facial reconstructions’ of famous historical figures, often giving them modern hair styles and clothes to let people see how they might have looked if they lived in the present day. The following article has 30 such images, and is interesting because…
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Recently I came across a Victorian piece of art by Ford Madox Brown which is supposed to depict Elizabeth Woodville first appearing before Edward IV with her two small children. It’s rather odd piece and not particularly flattering–I am guessing that the artist was not a Woodville fan? Here, a rather plain-looking Liz W. has …
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We’re often told that the medieval period was one of bright colours. The interiors of castles and great houses were painted with vivid scenes, and the churches and cathedrals were brilliantly decorated. It’s one thing to know this, but quite another to actually see what it might have been like. The above illustration of…
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The image above is not one that I’ve seen before – but that’s just me, no doubt you all recognise it. It’s from the Album amicorum of “a man named Michael van Meer, who seems to have lived in Hamburg and travelled to London around 1614–15”. Unlike imagined reconstructions, this drawing was made of the…
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The four 15th-century Devonshire Tapestries, which depict a Boar and Bear Hunt, a Swan and Otter Hunt, a Deer Hunt and a Falconry Hunt, were accepted by HM Government in lieu of tax payable on the estate of the 10th Duke of Devonshire and allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum. To see the Boar and…
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