Learning outcomes:
This course has been designed to enable you to:
- Gain a greater knowledge of the art and architecture of Tudor England
- Understand the cultural, social and political influences at work in the arts
- Evaluate the reasons why Tudor art has traditionally been overlooked
Course sessions:
1. Setting the Scene
1.1 Setting the Scene
1.2 Architecture and Gardens
These sessions introduce you to the context of Tudor art. In the first session we’ll examine the cultural, social and political atmosphere that influenced the creation of artworks. We’ll discuss Tudor attitudes to different art forms, the methods and processes that went into the creation of artworks, and we’ll discuss the reasons why Tudor people wanted to have images and objects around them. The second part considers the surroundings in which art was viewed and discussed, looking at the Great Houses and their Long Galleries, middling town houses and their parlours, gardens and other settings.
2. “To Paint Out Imitation to Posterity”: Portraiture
2.1 Elizabeth I and the Royal Image
2.2 Painting Nobility and Citizens
In these classes we’ll review the most famous of all 16th-century genres: the portrait. In the first session we’ll consider the need for the monarch to represent themselves through imagery, focusing on Elizabeth I’s portraits and how they echoed, and differed from, those of her predecessors. In the second session we’ll examine the vogue for portraits in the rest of society, among the nobility and the middling sort, considering the reasons why people might have their portraits painted and the symbols they chose to include.
3. “To Lodge in Chamber Comly Deckt’: Interior Decoration
3.1 Places
3.2 Themes
In these sessions we’ll explore the rich interiors of Tudor England, considering the different modes of decoration that were popular throughout the century. Rarely-seen examples from regional collections will be examined alongside famous royal interiors to give an idea of the breadth of imagery and motifs that once adorned walls, mantelpieces, staircases, ceilings and floors.
4. “Household Stuff”: Material Culture
4.1 Chairs, Beds and Cupboards
4.2 Things and Clothes
These sessions examine the portable objects in the Tudor home. From furniture to coins, from candle-snuffers to writing tables, we’ll take in the full range of Tudor material culture, from the houses of nobility and royalty. We’ll consider the symbolic power that specific objects exercised on the Tudor imagination, particularly chairs, beds and plate boards. We’ll also consider the ways that these objects engaged all the senses, imaginatively reconstructing the sights, sounds, textures and smells of Tudor houses.
5. Curtain Call
5.1 Entertainments at Henry’s Court
5.2 Summing Up
In the first session we’ll discuss the lavish entertainments put on at the Tudor court, with a special focus on those that took place in Henry VIII’s reign. We’ll look at the early history of court masques, exploring their lavish costumes and elaborate scenery, and consider the ephemeral architecture of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, one of the most famous (and expensive) events of the century. In the final session we’ll wrap up the course and review the different kinds of Tudor art that we have explored together.
Non-credit bearing
Please note that our Virtual Summer Festival of Learning courses are non-credit bearing.
Certificate of Participation
A certificate of participation will be sent to you electronically within a week of your Summer Festival course(s) finishing.
