It is estimated that during the English Reformation, 90% of the art works in the country were destroyed. That is an overwhelming figure.
As the Abbeys, Monasteries, Chantries and Pilgrimage sites were dismantled and building fabric and contents sold or re-purposed, the visual landscape of the country inevitably changed. One of the young Shakespeare’s earliest memories may have been the removal of the stained -glass windows in his Parish Church in Stratford-on-Avon in 1571.
What the Church lost, the Crown gained – its richness and splendour increased with its new -found wealth and status. Artists at Elizabeth’s court were tasked with aggrandising the Monarchy, now head of both State and Church. The work of jewellers, costumiers, portrait painters, engravers and craftsmen were all used for propaganda for the new status quo. Everything from lavish entertainments with their temporary pavilions to the great set pieces of Bible illustration and state portraits served the same purpose. In the reign of James I, Court entertainments went even further in their elaborate design under the direction of the great Inigo Jones. Inspiration often came from imported European engravings.
In both reigns, Shakespeare’s world of the theatre played a major part in satisfying the need for visual stimulation, where the magnificent costumes were often court hand-me-downs.
This is an interesting time, balanced between a new asceticism in Church culture and a new lavishness at court – which the ordinary person could experience both in their church and the court or playhouse respectively. And where they could indulge their interest in the scurrilous image in the new proliferation of political pamphlets.
