16-17th century British art

Aulikki EsklaEve-Liis Mendel

• King Henry the VIII was declared the head of the church thus separating England from the roman catholic church

• Heny became the head of the church in 1534

• all dissidents were suppressed and killed.

• Henry VIII died in 1547• Henry's daughter Mary I (1553-

1558) tried to re-establish the catholic church but her attempt failed.

• In 1558 Elizabeth I came to the throne and the prosperous Elizabethan Era began.

• England became a powerful country with a flourishing culture

• In 1603 Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England.

• The Civil War• The king (Charles I)

was captured• Oliver Cromwell

became “Lord Protector” of the republic

• The “Glorious Revolution”

• Bill of Rights

Art in general Henry VIII after 1537, by Holbein

• 16th century – renaissance

• 17th century – classicism• There was no baroque in

England• Absolute monarchy in

England – court painters to praise the king

• From the Renaissance until the early 18th century the best painters working in England were imported, often from Flanders.

Christina of Denmark, Ducchess of Milan 1538

• By the following century a number of significant English painters of fullsize portraits began to emerge, and towards the end of the century the other great English specialism, of landscape painting, also began to be practiced by natives.

• During the 17th century the English nobility also became important collectors of European art

Nicholas Hilliard

• Nicholas Hilliard (c. 1547 – bur. January 7, 1619) was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England.

• The first great native-born English painter of the Renaissance

• his paintings exemplify the visual image of Elizabethan England, very different from that of most of Europe in the late sixteenth century

• Technically he was very conservative by European standards, but his paintings are superbly executed and have a freshness and charm that has ensured his continuing reputation as the central artistic figure of the Elizabethan age.

• He was the author of an important treatise on miniature painting, now called The Art of Limning.

• He emphasised the need for a wise drawer to watch and catch the lovely graces, witty smilings, and the stolen glances.

The "Pelican Portrait" of Queen Elizabeth 1 c.1575 by

Nicolas Hilliard

Elizabeth Stuart and Son c. 1615

by Nicholas Hilliard

Portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh

c. 1585 by Nicholas Hilliard

Hans Holbein the Younger

• Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497– before November 29, 1543) was a German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known for his numerous portraits and his woodcut series of the Dance of Death, and is widely considered one of the finest portraitists of the Early Modern Period.

Sir Thomas More 1527 • set out for London in 1526• became court painter to Henry VIII • The more than 100 miniature and

full-size portraits he completed at Henry's court provide a remarkable document of that colorful period.

• In spite of their richness of detail, Holbein's portraits provide remarkably little insight into the personality and character of the people he painted.

• He designed the king's state robes and made drawings that were the basis of all kinds of items used by the royal household, from buttons to bridles to bookbinders.

• In 1539, when Henry was thinking of marrying Anne of Cleves, he sent Holbein to paint her portrait.

• In 1543 Holbein was in London working on another portrait of the king when he died, a victim of the plague.

The Noble Lady from Dance of Death

1524-26

Portrait of Thomas Cromwell

c. 1533

Portrait of Henry VIII1536

Jane Seymour, Queen of England

1536

Portrait of Anne of Cleves

c. 1539

Portrait of Catherine Howard

1540-41

Anthony van Dyck

• Sir Anthony van Dyck (22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish artist who became the leading court painter in England.

• He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court

• He also painted biblical and mythological subjects, displayed outstanding facility as a draftsman, and was an important innovator in watercolour and etching.

• He painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next 150 years

• Van Dyck's influence on English portraiture has been profound and lasting

Samson and Delilah, ca. 1630 A strenuous history painting in the manner of Rubens; the saturated use of color reveals van Dyck's study of Titian.

Lord John Stuart and His Brother Lord Bernard Stuart c. 1638

The more intimate, but still elegant style he developed in England

Charles I of England c. 1635

Charles I on Horseback c. 1635

St. Mary's Church at Rye, England

1634 Pen drawing

Used Information

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Holbein_the_Younger• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Hilliard• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Dyck• http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/h/holbein/hans_y/index.html• http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/d/dyck_van/index.html• http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9040479/Nicholas-Hilliard

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