Tudor Portraits
It will be important for the students to understand that Tudor portraits are unique in that they are really a blend of the two reasons for creating a portrait, to communicate a likeness and to communicate status. Great Britain, partly because of its location as an island, was somewhat disconnected from the art that was being produced on the European continent. Britain's art was always a little behind what was occurring elsewhere and the British tended to have a suspicion of and a slight prejudice against what the other countries were doing. Part of this, of course, had to do with the relationships these countries had, i.e. one of competition and often aggression. At various times, both France and Spain were enemies of Britain. During the reign of Henry VIII, Italy, if only for their ties to the Roman Catholic Church, also was not on good terms with Britain. For these reasons, the Tudor portraits are not as sophisticated as the portraiture in continental European countries, where there was a more open exchange of ideas and opportunities for artists to travel and study outside their own countries. I found Tarnya Cooper's A Guide to Tudor and Jacobean Portraits the best source for information. While I looked at other resources, and will have several available for the students to look at, this one was very clear and concise.
Tudor portraits do show a reasonable likeness of the sitter, but most importantly they were about status and how the sitter wanted to be remembered. The Tudor artist was meticulous about showing detail, and this is especially evident in the depiction of the elaborate costumes worn in the time period. Individual sitters wanted their portraits to enhance their status. Because of this they would wear their best clothes, in the latest fashion and often had symbols that would show their allegiance to the Queen. They would pose and have symbols and attributes depicted that would show them in the best possible light. 1
The type of life- sized portraits and half-sized portraits that we associate with the Tudor image arrived in Britain somewhat late. By the late 1400s, portraiture was very common on the Continent, but there were very few portraits painted before 1500 in Britain. It really was Henry VIII who caused the popularity of life -sized portraiture to grow in Britain. He wanted to use his image to show not only his status but also the status of his court as a means of propaganda. He was very conscious of his image and only wanted to be depicted as a powerful monarch. Because of Henry's use of portraiture, the popularity of portraits grew and the nobles and other members of the court began to want their portraits done. In the later part of the 1500s, portraits became popular for men and women who were outside the court. These included merchants and other wealthy members of society. By 1600, lawyers, writers, and other professionals began commissioning portraits. 2
As the popularity of portraits grew during this time, other art forms that had been a mainstay of English culture, specifically religious imagery, were in decline, being removed, whitewashed over, destroyed or hidden because of the separation of Henry VIII from the Catholic Church. Thus the Tudor portrait makes up the largest surviving category of painting from this time. There were, of course, other types of art that have not survived as well, including tapestries, painted clothes that served as wall hangings, and heraldic images or crests. Also, woodcut and metal plate engravings were becoming popular for images in books.3
For the students, I will be focusing specifically on how Tudor portraits communicate identity. Tudor portraits have two major functions: to communicate a likeness and to communicate the status or identity of the sitter. One would want one's portrait to show what one looked like for family members, including descendents, social contemporaries who would view the image and, of course, posterity. 4 It is a common human desire to leave a mark on the world, a way to say, "I was here". In a time period where portraits were not common (unlike today with the proliferation of the camera), one would inevitably perceive the image as a way of immortalizing oneself and one would want the image to show how one actually looked, within reason. You would want to look your best. After all, who would not like having a likeness that was "airbrushed", as it were?
The other major function of Tudor portraiture was to put on one's best "external" face. This function was, while appealing to one's ego, primarily intended to impress the viewers of the image. So, how does one show, in a visual image, one's status in the best light? How, in a picture, does one show one's status, wealth and power? The Tudors had a visual system, a language or vocabulary if you will, for depicting these things. Through dress, jewelry, mottos, coats of arms, emblems of an office or even symbols integrating into the image, there was an advanced vocabulary that communicated many messages about the sitter.
The Tudor sitter would consciously wear his or her best, and latest, fashion. By the 1550s, a unique phenonomen had occurred in England. Throughout Europe, England was known as a place where someone's clothes literally made the man. It was a society where what one wore counted at least as much, if not more, than birth, and one's clothes really defined one's status as a gentleman. The men of the period dressed as extravagantly as the women. It was possible to move up society's social ladder by wearing expensive clothes. Thus clothes, which were seen as a true reflection of your status in life, were very costly and often were the most precious and prized items owned by Tudor gentry and nobility. It goes without saying that middle school students will be able to closely identify with this aspect of Tudor culture. Fashion during this time changed rapidly and when people had their portrait painted, they would of course choose to be shown wearing only the latest fashion. The clothing worn by Anne of Cleves was a part of why she was not easily accepted by Henry VIII's court. All this is now a tremendous benefit to the art historian in that the portraits can be accurately dated to within five to 10 years of their execution. 5
In addition to wearing one's best clothes, the sitter would often have inscriptions and/or coats of arms included in the image, often in the upper left hand corner. These are common features in Tudor portraiture and served to further define the identity of the sitter. The inscriptions, written either in Latin or in English, would often have the sitter's age and the date when the painting was created. This tradition has caused some confusion, because later generations would add an inscription idealizing who they thought the sitter was and when they thought it was painted. Often the added information was incorrect. Coats of arms, also frequently put in the upper left hand corner, were, above all else, designed to very clearly inform the viewer of the status, in this case the "family lineage or recently acquired honors", of the sitter. 6
In addition to using clothes, inscriptions and coats of arms to depict one's identity, the use of symbols customarily appeared in a variety of ways. Elizabethan courtiers commonly incorporated into their portraits items that would be intended to be read as symbols for their loyalty to Queen Elizabeth. They would consciously incorporate her personal colors- white, gold, black and red- into the image. They would also wear items of clothing, such as a cloak with a sun motif, the sun being a symbol of Elizabeth, or jewelry, such as pearls, symbolizing the Virgin Queen, or miniatures or cameos depicting her that would convey their loyalty to her. 7
Tudor jewelry was often produced in heraldic forms, as emblems, as symbolic animals or even letters. A famous example of this is the necklace worn by Anne Boleyn in many portraits. The necklace is a gold "B" with three pearls hanging from the bottom. It is currently experiencing a certain amount of fame as the necklace that the character Betty wears in the television show " Ugly Betty". I know that the students will be happy to connect the unit to a piece of popular culture.
Finally, many Tudor portraits depicted the sitter holding something in one or both hands. These items were carefully chosen for their symbolic meanings. While these items add another level of meaning to the message the sitter wanted to convey, it can be challenging to decipher these messages today. Many of the symbols, such as the pomegranate, have different and often contradictory meanings associated with them. I have included in the appendix a list of common images used in Renaissance art and some of the basic, most common connotations. This is the list that the students will be using when trying to decipher Tudor portraits and in creating their own portrait. Before and during the actual production of the students' portraits, I will only show them portraits painted up to this time period, i.e. Tudor England, focusing of course on the portraiture being done during this period.
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