The Story of Tudor Art: A History of Tudor England Through its Art and Objects, by Christina J. Faraday

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

A unique, illustrated history of Tudor England told through its

art and artefacts.

The Tudor dynasty (1485-1603) gave England five monarchs and an age of relentless power plays, scandal and transformation. Thanks to artists like Hans Holbein the Younger, we feel we have a definite idea of the characters of these famous kings and queens: the miserly Henry VII, the six-times married tyrant Henry VIII, the boy king Edward VI, the devout matriarch Mary I and the virgin queen Elizabeth I. Yet, iconic as they are, when it comes to Tudor art, portraits - and rulers - are far from the whole story.

In the sixteenth century, images and objects took on powerful new roles, as more people than ever before used them to shape their worlds. Monarchs, archbishops and courtiers commissioned artworks in a variety of media, to convey messages and create a record of themselves as office-holders and individuals. But in this period, the 'middling sort', professional men and women, were also gaining status, wealth and influence. They wanted to promote themselves too, and used art and a dazzling array of objects to do so.

In this unique and beautiful book, Christina Faraday uses art - paintings, sculpture, prints, tapestries, embroideries, clothes, jewels and household objects - to investigate every facet of the period. Beside dissecting familiar portraits of Tudor kings, queens and nobles, Faraday casts a forensic eye across a dynamic array of artefacts, giving the reader a vivid and detailed feel for the political, social, economic and cultural texture of sixteenth-century England.

A vivid panorama of Tudor art in all its genres and media, fine, decorative and multifarious. Scintillatingly fresh, rooted in deep knowledge and understanding. A surprise awaits around every corner - I can't praise it enough -- John Guy, University of Cambridge

An engaging and authoritative exploration of the art of the Tudor era, looking at not just paintings and sculpture, but throwing a wider net over the artistic legacy of this profuse age. Faraday rightly insists on the importance of textiles - including tapestries, embroideries and costume - now only faintly evoked by contemporary descriptions of Court spectacles, and in the few precious examples that survive -- Tim Knox, Director of the Royal Collection

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About the Author

Dr Christina J. Faraday is a freelance writer and historian of art and ideas based in Cambridge, UK. A specialist in the art and culture of Tudor and late medieval Britain and its later reception, her wider interest is in the relationship between images, objects, literature and music across time, as well as the contemporary craft of art writing. Christina hosts the British Art Matters podcast, and her reviews and cultural criticism appear regularly in media including BBC Radio and Apollo magazine. She is an Affiliated Lecturer at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Historical Society, and I am a Trustee of the Walpole Society for British art history. Find out more at Christina's website https://www.christinajfaraday.com/ and find her on Twitter @cjfaraday ​and Bluesky @cjfaraday.bsky.social