art
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The above illustration is of Edward IV receiving a book from Anthony Woodville. With the king are his queen, Elizabeth Woodville, and his heir, the future Edward V. Looking at it, I found myself wondering if the man in blue and ermine, third from left, might be Richard III. As Duke of Gloucester, of course.…
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This piece, “Christ Blessing”, as rediscovered recently in the Holy Trinity Church, Bradford-on-Avon, is by the Flemish artist Quentin Metsys the Elder (1466-1530), not his grandson (c.1543-89). How fortunate that it appears to have saved the church.
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There are some very good biographies of Edward IV, by the likes of Pollard, Ross, Kleinke and Santiuste but surely none have tracked his movements, sometimes month by month, like this book does. This is not a full biography and it does not claim to be, but focuses on Edward’s romantic life – his known…
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A new single by the LEGENDARY TEN SECONDS is being released on iTunes and Amazon on December 1. MIDDLEHAM CASTLE ON CHRISTMAS EVE was written by Ian Churchward and Frances Quinn, who also painted the cover art, showing a ghostly party riding through the snow towards the ruined castle. Frances, who lives in Dublin,…
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This likeness of Richard II is from the cover of the Penguin Monarchs edition on this fascinating king, written by Laura Ashe. (Penguin Monarchs: Richard II – A Brittle Glory by Laura Ashe. http://tinyurl.com/zbur7aw) The reviews and comments at Amazon are mixed – the commenters even have a little spat. I will purchase it because I…
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This interesting article shows how John Shakespeare, as Bailiff of Stratford-upon-Avon, was forced to paint over some mediaeval murals. As a clue to what really happened, remember that Michael Wood thinks both John and William Shakespeare to have been Catholics. Let me reassure you that Henry VIII wasn’t still King sixteen years after he died,…
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Looking through Google images, I have come upon various uses of my tweaked version of Titian, whose masterpiece, Portrait of a Man in a Red Cap, I was impudent enough to ‘adapt’ into my idea of John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln. Sorry Titian. Anyway, I’ve always been pleased with the result, so I…
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While searching for the actor Ben Miller’s association with scoliosis (he had a corrective operation when a child) I came upon the following article, which (I think) he has written. If not, there is another Ben Miller. The item was written in December 2014, but is full of interest concerning Richard’s portraits, tree-ring…
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The above illustration is by Hans Holbein the Younger – Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (Royal Collection) This post, about Edward IV’s daughter Catherine, prompted me to post this, about the husband of another of Edward IV’s daughter, Anne, Countess of Surrey. Thomas Howard, eventually 3rd Duke of Norfolk, was the grandson of…
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There is, apparently, a second, equally as genuine, version of the Mona Lisa. I know which one I prefer, and it’s not the one we always see, which makes me think it’s a rather dissolute young man. (Yes, I do mean dissolute, because that is how ‘he’ strikes me.) But if da Vinci did indeed paint…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 