art
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I have long been interested in genealogy and, like most family historians, the Holy Grail is to connect my family to Royalty, especially Richard III! Unfortunately this is nearly impossible*, but I have done it in an indirect way. I found out that my 4 x great grandfather was a portrait painter by the name…
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As the European rugby season enters another phase this week, we can focus on Blanche de Castile (1188-1252), granddaughter of Henry II, wife of Louis VIII, mother of and regent to (St.) Louis IX and great-grandmother of Isabelle, who married Edward II to become Richard III’s great-great-great-grandmother. In 2008, Stade Francais developed a new third…
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There is one portrait of Richard that is not seen very often, perhaps because it is not straightforward…or well painted. For instance, why the broken sword? As a symbol of his defeat and broken monarchy? It is also rather dark and presumably in need of a good clean, presents him with a malformed left hand,…
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This illustration is from a video of a Legendary Ten Seconds song called ‘The Lord Protector’. It is set in 1483, when Richard III was still Duke of Gloucester. The king, Richard’s elder brother, Edward IV, died suddenly, and on his deathbed declared Richard should be Lord Protector during the minority of Edward’s son, the…
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Well, perhaps ‘makeover’ isn’t quite right, because he’s been flattered by Leonardo da Vinci’s The Musician. See above. There again, perhaps I do George an injustice by saying he’s been flattered, because we don’t know what he looked like, only that he had Edward IV and Richard III for brothers. So, I think it would…
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Here (with the prospect of York Minister through the window) is a composite picture of Richard III’s queen, Anne Neville, who died in 1485, not long after their son died too. Richard was left alone, facing the gathering storm of invasion by Henry Tudor. The original illustration (also above), much tweaked, is of Mary of Burgundy (whose…
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I have been delving into the world of mediaeval and Tudor portraits, this time in search of Sir William Stanley, the louse who turned traitor on Richard III at Bosworth and cost him his throne, his realm and his life. Sir William’s eventual reward was to be beheaded by the very man he helped so…
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Now then, I look at the above portraits and do not see Henry VII of England (1457-1509) on the right or below. The portrait on the above left is Henry. The general consensus is that the other two more resemble Vlad the Impaler. Well, the one on the right does, while the clothing of the one below…
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For anyone interested in portraits of those who lived centuries ago, it can be very frustrating—if not to say aggravating—to come across one portrait, that recurs all over the internet and identifies the people in it, but that is all. No date, no artist, nothing. A good example is this portrait of Henry VII with his…
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I recently posted a picture that I had fiddled with to put Richard’s head on a painting of Sir Galahad by George Frederic Watts. Just now, while looking for something else (doesn’t it always happen?) I came upon a stained glass window of the same painting. It’s the Cryder Memorial Window, before 1910. Leaded glass,…
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