The artists of the Tudor court are the painters and limners engaged by the monarchs of England's Tudor dynasty and their courtiers between 1485 and 1603, from the reign of Henry VII to the death of Elizabeth I.
Typically managing a group of assistants and apprentices in a workshop or studio, many of these artists produced works across several disciplines, including portrait miniatures, large-scale panel portraits on wood, illuminated manuscripts, heraldric emblems, and elaborate decorative schemes for masques, tournaments, and other events.
Although there were English artists throughout the period, many artists were foreigners, especially from the Low Countries, but also from Italy and Germany. Some only stayed for short periods, but many for several years or the rest of their lives.
Isolation and iconography
The Tudor period was one of unusual isolation from European trends for England. At the start the Wars of the Roses had greatly disrupted artistic activity, which apart from architecture had reached a very low ebb by 1485. The Yorkist dynasty overthrown by the Tudors had been very close to their Burgundian allies, and English diplomats had their portraits painted by the finest Early Netherlandish painters – Edward Grimston by Petrus Christus and Sir John Donne by Hans Memling (both National Gallery, London). However these were both painted abroad. In the Tudor period foreign artists were recruited and often welcomed lavishly by the English court, as they were in other artistically marginal parts of Europe like Spain or Naples.Hearn (2001), which mainly deals with the Jacobean court The Netherlandish painters remained predominant, though French influence was also important on both Lucas Horenbout and Nicholas Hilliard, respectively the founder and the greatest exponent of the distinctively English tradition of the portrait miniature.
With the virtual extinction of religious painting at the Reformation, and little interest in classical mythology until the very end of the period, the portrait was the most important form of painting for all the artists of the Tudor court, and the only one to have survived in any numbers. How many of these have also been lost can be seen from Holbein's book (nearly all pages in the Royal Collection) containing preparatory drawings for portraits – of eighty-five drawings, only a handful have surviving Holbein paintings, though often copies have survived.Holbein and the Court of Henry VIII, pp. 11, 16; 1978, The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace Portraiture ranged from the informal miniature, almost invariably painted from life in the course of a few days and intended for private contemplation,Strong 1983 to the later large-scale portraits of Elizabeth I such as the Rainbow Portrait, filled with symbolic iconography in dress, jewels, background, and inscription.Strong 1987
Much energy was also expended on decorative painting of fixtures and fittings, often of a very temporary nature. In theory the "Serjeant Painters" of the king, a lower rank of painter, did most of this, probably to the designs of the more elevated "King's Painters" (or Queen's), but it is clear that they too spent time on this, as did court artists all over Europe (see Royal Entry). There was also the Master of the Revels, whose Office was responsible for festivals and tournaments, and no doubt called upon the artists and Serjeant Painters for assistance.
Jewellery and metalwork were regarded as extremely important, and far more was spent on them than on painting. Holbein produced many spectacular designs for now-vanished table ornaments in precious metals, and Hilliard was also a practising goldsmith. The main artistic interests of Henry VIII were music, building palaces and tapestry, of which he had over 2,000 pieces, costing far more than he ever spent on painters. The Flemish set of The Story of Abraham still at Hampton Court Palace is one grand set from late in his reign.
Elizabeth spent far less, hardly building anything herself, but took a personal interest in painting, keeping her own collection of miniatures locked away, wrapped in paper on which she wrote the names of the sitter. She is reputed to have had paintings of her burnt that did not match the iconic image she wished to be shown.
The most progressive and spectacular palace of the Tudor period, Nonsuch Palace, begun by Henry VIII in 1538 a little way south of London, was covered inside and out with prodigious quantities of figurative sculpted stucco reliefs – the whole scheme covered over 2,000 square metres (21,000 sq ft).JSTOR Burlington Magazine, The Stuccos of Nonsuch by Martin Biddle There was also probably much decorative painting. As for the similar work at the Palace of Fontainebleau, which Nonsuch was certainly intended to compete with, and outshine, Italians were brought in to provide authentic Mannerist work, however much the general plan remains English. The scattered fragments and images that have survived suggest that the awestruck accounts of visitors were not exaggerated.British Archaeology, Sutton - views of interior
Community of artists
Many of the artists active at the Tudor court were connected by ties of family, marriage, and training. Lucas Horenbout (often called Hornebolt in England), who began painting and illuminating for Henry VIII in the mid-1520s, was accompanied in his workshop by his sister Susannah, who was also an illuminator. It is generally accepted that Lucas Horenbout taught Hans Holbein the Younger the techniques of painting miniatures on vellum when Holbein was engaged by Henry VIII in the early 1530s.
Lucas and Susanna Horenbout's father, Gerard Horenbout – possibly he was the Master of James IV of Scotland – was an active member of the Ghent-Bruges school of manuscript illustrators and also was employed briefly at the Tudor court.Strong 1981, p. 30-31 In Bruges, Gerard was associated with Sanders Bening or Benninck and his son Simon, with whom he worked on the illustrations for the Grimani Breviary. Simon Bening's eldest daughter Levina Teerlinc was also trained as an illuminator. She entered the service of Henry VIII at the close of 1546 following the deaths of Holbein (1543) and Lucas Horenbout (1544), and would remain as court painter to Henry's son Edward VIStrong 1981, p. 41 and as painter and lady-in-waiting to both his daughters, Mary I and Elizabeth. Levina Teerlinc, in turn, taught the art of limning to Nicholas Hilliard, an apprentice goldsmith who would marry the daughter of Queen Elizabeth's jeweller and rise to become the supreme miniaturist of the age. John Bettes the Elder apprenticed his son, John the Younger to Hilliard. Hilliard's most famous student, Isaac Oliver, later limner to Anne of Denmark and Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, was married to the niece of Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger.Hearn, p. 130 Gheeraerts was also the brother-in-law of Lucas de Heere's apprentice John de Critz the Elder, who took the dynasty into the Stuart period, and was succeeded as Serjeant-Painter by his son. De Heere was also a religious refugee from Flanders; although the upheavals of the Protestant Reformation acted to reduce artistic contacts, especially with Italy, England could also benefit from them.
Residents
Meynnart Wewyck (Maynard Vewicke), resident ca. 1502–1525, painter of "pictours" or panel portraits to both Henry VII and Henry VIII.Kipling 1982, p. 135-136/ Lucas Horenbout, pioneer of the portrait miniature, King's Painter from 1531 until his death in 1544. Anthony Toto and Bartolommeo Penni. Hans Holbein the Younger, spent many years on two visits, painting the best portraits of the Tudor period. Levina Teerlinc, miniaturist and lady-in-waiting. John Bettes the Elder, engaged for decorative work at Whitehall from 1531 to 1533; also a portrait-painter and miniaturist.Hearn, p. 46 Gerlach Flicke, or "Garlicke" in some English records, German portraitist, in London from c. 1545 until his death in 1558. Hans Eworth, in England from c. 1549; portrait-painter and recorded as a designer for the Office of the Revels. Steven van Herwijck, portrait medallist, visited 1562, resident 1565 until his death in 1567. Steven van der Meulen, arrived by 1561, naturalized 1562, active until his death in 1563.Town (2014), p. 179-181 Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, Flemish Protestant refugee portraitist, who arrived as a child. George Gower, English portraitist. Nicholas Hilliard, miniaturist and goldsmith to Elizabeth I from c. 1572. Hieronimo Custodis, Flemish exile portraitist active from 1589 until his death in 1593. Sir William Segar, portraitist and herald; later Garter Principal King of Arms 1607–1633. John de Critz the Elder, arrived from Flanders as a child, portraitist. Robert Peake the Elder, English portraitist; also employed by the Office of the Revels; later serjeant painter under James I. Isaac Oliver, Hilliard's pupil and later rival. Rowland Lockey, another apprentice of Hilliard.
Visitors
Pietro Torrigiano, Florentine sculptor, on the run after breaking Michelangelo's nose, made Henry VII's tomb and other monuments in an extended stay. With Mazzoni, a rare portrait sculptor at the Tudor court. Possibly Guido Mazzoni, Florentine sculptor mostly in painted terracotta. He submitted alternative designs for Henry's tomb, and a painted terracotta bust by him may be of Henry VIII as a boy. Michael Sittow probably painted Henry VII and a picture of Catherine of Aragon for her mother, his employer Possibly the Venetian Antonio Solario, who certainly painted an altarpiece for a London merchant in 1514 Girolamo da Treviso, hired mainly as a military engineer (who died in action), but also left a significant painting Niccolo da Modena or Nicolas Bellin, brought in from Fontainebleau for Nonsuch Palace Lucas Cornelisz. de Cock (1495–1552) Dutch portrait and history painter, probably in England c. 1527–1532, before leaving for Italy William or Guillim Scrots, employed by Henry VIII from at least 1545 and retained by Edward VI until the King died in 1553 Antonis Mor or Antonio Moro, the Habsburg portraitist, visited with Philip II of Spain Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder a Flemish Protestant refugee, stayed nine years, and returned in 1585 until his death sometime before 1589 Town 2015, p. 313 Quentin Metsys the Younger or Massys Cornelis Ketel stayed eight years, painting histories and portraits Lucas de Heere Protestant refugee who returned to Flanders after ten years, when it was safe to do so Joris Hoefnagel, in England c. 1569–71 making drawings for Civitates Orbis Terrarum; painted A Fête at Bermondsey while in England Federico Zuccari visited for six months, painting Elizabeth and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
Serjeant Painters
The holders of the office were:Details for all, unless otherwise stated, from Ellis Waterhouse, "Painting in Britain, 1530–1790", 4th Edn, 1978, Penguin Books (now Yale History of Art series) - see Serjeant Painter in Index
John Browne, heraldic painter since 1502, appointed "King's Painter" in 1511/12, and as the first Serjeant Painter in 1527, when the imported artist Lucas Horenbout took over as "King's Painter" - now the superior position. Browne died in office in December 1532. Andrew Wright, 1532–1544, about whom little is known