The Story of Tudor Art: A History of Tudor England through its Art and Objects

One of the reasons we find the Tudor period in general, and the Tudor dynasty in particular, so fascinating is that it is the first period in history when portrait painting began to focus on real likenesses. The works of Holbein, Scrots, Eworth, Mor, and Hilliard allow us to see the faces of kings and courtiers - with some likenesses more flattering than others! But painting was by no means the only, or even the most important, type of Tudor art.

In this book, Dr Christina Faraday examines a wealth of different type of artistic expression, ranging from wooden figurines from domestic fireplaces to the unsurpassed (and perhaps unsurpassable) architectural triumph that is the fan vault ceiling of King's College Chapel, Cambridge.

The book is arranged by reign, although there is an additional chapter discussing the effect of the Reformation on art and one which takes us away from the court to the burgeoning professional classes. Dr Faraday shows us tapestries, tombs, medals, and manuscripts. Her extensive knowledge of all types of art is supplemented by her investigation into the individuals who produced it and those who paid for it. Generally, there is more information about the patrons than the artists themselves and their motivations for commissioning different types of work are discussed – sometimes religious, sometimes dynastic, and often in response to the era’s cultural focus on ‘self-fashioning’ and self-promotion.

The final chapter looks at modern representations of the Tudors and is perhaps the least interesting chapter, although I must say I found the image of Max Collishaw’s ‘Mask of Death’ (2018) both fascinating and disconcerting and the discussion around it quite thought-provoking.

This would be an excellent book both for your coffee table and your collection of high-quality Tudor literature. 

Highly recommended.