Portraits in Tudor England

Portraits provide some of the most iconic images from Tudor England. From life-size images of monarchs to representations of ‘middling’ professionals, portraits reveal a huge amount about the people and the culture. This course will explore the ways that portraits were made and used across different sectors of society. We’ll look at the importance of image control and visual propaganda, the solutions that artists and patrons suggested for problems of representation, and we will discuss the ways that techniques and materials can contribute their own layers of meaning to the image.

Portraits provide some of the most iconic images from Tudor England. From life-size images of monarchs to representations of ‘middling’ professionals, portraits reveal a huge amount about the people and the culture. This course will explore the ways that portraits were made and used across different sectors of society. We’ll look at the importance of image control and visual propaganda, the solutions that artists and patrons suggested for problems of representation, and we will discuss the ways that techniques and materials can contribute their own layers of meaning to the image.  

This course will explore the portrait’s place in the artistic, religious, political and social world of sixteenth-century England. We’ll consider the motivations of portrait sitters, and the purposes that these images could fulfil for royalty, nobility and the ‘middling sort’. In particular, we’ll look at the impact that royal artists such as Hans Holbein had on the presentation of the monarch’s image, and the solutions they found for the problem of how to frame Elizabeth I: the country’s first unmarried, Protestant, young female monarch. Besides famous portraits in oil, we’ll also consider lesser-known royal representations, such as the life-size effigies of monarchs used in funeral processions, now at Westminster Abbey.  

Moving from the life-size to the miniature, we’ll take a look at the breath-taking portrait miniatures of Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver, exploring the special role that these objects played in negotiating social and diplomatic relationships. We’ll also consider the ‘middling sort’, a growing body of professional and politically-powerful men (and women), who in the sixteenth century began to use images of themselves to show off and consolidate their new-found political and social status. Throughout the course we’ll see portraits in a range of media, challenging traditional ideas about the hierarchy of the arts in self-representation.

Learning outcomes

The learning outcomes for this course are:

• Better understand the role that portraits played in Tudor society.  
• Be able to identify and interpret key symbols and iconography in a range of well-known portraits.  
• Better appreciate the methods and materials used in the creation of portraits.  
• Acquire a greater understanding of Tudor society, history and culture. 

Classes

1. Introduction: Tudor Lives and the Uses of Portraits  
2. Royal Portraiture Before and after Holbein  
3. Portrait Miniatures: Materiality and Intimacy  
4. Portraits and the ‘Middling Sort’  
5. Elizabeth I and Image Management 

Typical week: Monday to Friday

For each week of study you select a morning (Am) and an afternoon (Pm) course, each course has five sessions, one each day Monday to Friday. The maximum class size is 25 students. Your weekly courses are complemented by a series of two daily plenary lectures, exploring new ideas in a wide range of disciplines. To add to the learning experience, we are also planning additional evening talks and events.

Evaluation and Academic Credit 

If you are seeking to enhance your own study experience, or earn academic credit from your Cambridge Summer Programme studies at your home institution, you can submit written work for assessment for one or more of your courses. 

Essay questions are set and assessed against the University of Cambridge standard by your Course Director, a list of essay questions can be found in the Course Materials. Essays are submitted two weeks after the end of each course, so those studying for multiple weeks need to plan their time accordingly. There is an evaluation fee of £65 per essay.

For more information about writing essays see Evaluation and Academic Credit.

Certificate of attendance

A certificate of attendance will be sent to you electronically within a week of your courses finishing.