Finally, enough stories to do another round-up!
* I posted this on Twitter earlier in the week, but for those of you not on Twitter: Smithsonian Channel gets North American rights to
Category: Art News
Sunday Short Takes
News has been slow and I’ve been really busy so there haven’t been many posts lately! And I only have two stories to post this week, but I guess that’s better than nothing. And really not relevant to anything, this past Thursday was the 8th anniversary of this blog as a blog (as opposed to the static “news and events” page it was previously). Hard to believe it’s been that long!
* In the April Issue of History Today – The cover story features Derek Wilson writing on Henry VII’s time in exile (a big part of Henry’s life before Bosworth that I find quite interesting)
Sunday Short Takes
The last few weeks have been a lesson in “no matter how long you have to wait, keep following a story!”. The most recent example relates to a portrait of Elizabeth I that I first posted about nearly 5 years ago that is now going on display after authentication and conservation work.
* Rare portrait of Elizabeth I owned by North Carolina Garden Club shown in Washington
* Elizabeth I as you’ve never seen her before: Portrait showing off her wrinkles goes on display
In continuing Richard III news:
* Richard III tomb design proposed by society
* Richard III follow-up documentary to air on More4 this month – This one sounds like it might have more of the science of the investigation in it.
And of course the Richard III discovery has prompted several calls for new digs to find other historical people. This one has some promise though –
* Cardinal Wolsey ‘could be found in Leicester’
And a couple of other interesting stories:
* Henry VII: Forgotten Welsh king? – (warning – embedded audio automatically plays)
Sunday Short Takes
As occasionally happens, a story that isn’t really “new” all of a sudden becomes “news”. In this case, the portrait above, which was called Katherine Parr for years, has been re-identified as Catherine of Aragon. I knew of the new identification a few years back (which is why there is a note about it in my Katherine Parr gallery… and I still haven’t re-done the galleries so it is still there waiting to be moved!) And it appears that the reason that it is all over the news now is that the National Portrait Gallery in London has put it on display with a portrait of a younger Henry VIII. Be sure to check out their article about the conservation of the portrait. (My copy, above, is pre-conservation.) Here’s just a sampling of the links that came through my news alerts:
* National Portrait Gallery reunites Henry VIII with Catherine of Aragon
* Catherine of Aragon reunited with King Henry VIII… but only as an oil painting
* Tudor portrait re-identified after experts notice Henry VIII’s wife was wearing the wrong clothes
The University of Leicester has announced the date and time for the Richard III excavation press conference and the associated documentary from Channel 4! Unfortunately the press conference will be at 4 a.m. in my time zone so I probably won’t be watching live.
* Date set for Search for Richard III press conference
* Richard III: The King in the Car Park
And a few other stories:
* Views fit for a queen for first time in centuries – Kenilworth Castle will proudly show off views not seen in centuries thanks to plans by plans by English Heritage to transform the remains with innovative viewing platforms. (I hope they have it finished by mid-May, when I hope to be there!)
* Elizabeth’s faithful tutor – Simon Adams and David Scott Gehring explain how the Virgin Queen’s little-known teacher may have influenced the religious policies of her reign
* RSC wins rights to stage Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell novels
Sunday Short Takes
In the continuing saga of the possible Richard III discovery… we should know the results of the scientific testing soon:
* Richard III dig: Conclusions to be revealed in weeks
* Step by step: the Science of the Search for Richard III – I couldn’t remember whether I had linked to this previously or not, but I figured it would be a good refresher to post now.
The petition I mentioned back in May calling for a statue of Henry VII in Pembroke has been delivered to the National Assembly for Wales:
* Petition calling for a Henry VII statue in Pembroke is handed over
And finally…
* Roland Hui is now selling his reproduction Tudor miniature on Etsy!
Sunday Short Takes
The first Sunday Short Takes of 2013!
A few stories showed up last week related to the new National Portrait Gallery’s “Hidden: Unseen Paintings Beneath Tudor Portraits” that I mentioned in the January 2013 upcoming books and exhibitions post.
* X-rays reveal hidden secrets of Tudor portraits
The National Archives Podcast series already has another Tudor-related item out:
* Geography, art and the sinking of the Mary Rose
In closely-related news…
* In pictures: Portsmouth’s new Mary Rose museum nears completion
And a few fun, lighter stories from the past week:
* Scale model Lego Tudor castle to go on display in Winchester
Upcoming book and exhibition for January 2013
2013 is starting off with a couple of things to look forward to!
Book
David Loades has another book on a wife of Henry VIII, this time wife no. 3 Jane Seymour. It’s out at the end of January in the UK and is listed as February 2013 for the US:
Exhibition
This looks really interesting:
Hidden: Unseen Paintings Beneath Tudor Portraits will run from January 3, 2013 to June 2, 2013 at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
A description of the exhibit from the website:
Recent technical analysis undertaken as part of the Making Art in Tudor Britain project has revealed that some of the Gallery
Sunday Short Takes
Yes, they’re back! Sorry for the silence last weekend in particular – I got really ill about a week and a half ago and I basically slept all of last Saturday and Sunday. Thankfully I got better before the holidays!
* The BBC’s Your Paintings (which I first mentioned back in 2011 when it was getting started) has now compiled the nation’s collection of 210,000 paintings!
* The UK National Archives podcasts have a new one out on Bess of Hardwick
And finally, there were several articles out on the recreation of the Blue Boar Inn in Leicester where Richard III stayed the night before the Battle of Bosworth. I *really* want a 3D printer!
* King Richard III’s medieval inn recreated by archaeologists
* Model of Richard III’s Blue Boar Inn made in Leicester
* And a short video from the University of Leicester:
Upcoming books and exhibitions in November
Books
A couple of books already out in the UK will be out later this month in the US:
Tarnya Coopers Citizen Portrait: Portrait Painting and the Urban Elite of Tudor and Jacobean England and Wales is due out on November 27th, although according to the Amazon.com page it is already in stock. Previous entry here.
And The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I by Stephen Alford is due out on November 13 in the US. Previous entry here.
Also out this month –
The Tudors on Film and Television by Sue Parrill and William B. Robison is due November 3rd in the US (although I’m not 100% on that date) and December 31st in the UK. You can learn more about the book at their website.
Exhibitions
Just a reminder that the Shakespeare: Staging the World exhibition at the British Museum closes November 25th, so if you were planning to see it, don’t wait. I’ve heard some great things about it!
And finally, The Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace will be hosting the exhibit The Northern Renaissance: D
Sunday Short Takes
Although I posted about it shortly after the announcement, here are a few more articles about Hilary Mantel’s second Man Booker prize:
* Hilary Mantel wins Man Booker prize for second time
Sunday Short Takes
Quite a few more news items this week than last!
* In a follow-up to last week’s video about the recreation of Henry VIII’s crown, here’s more about it from the Historic Royal Palaces website
* And for anyone with a little cash to spare: Henry VIII home goes on sale for
Upcoming events and exhibitions
And here are the events and exhibitions for September (book info is in a previous post since there were so many of them).
Just a reminder that both The National Maritime Museum‘s Royal River: Power, Pageantry and the Thames and the National Portrait Gallery‘s Double Take: Versions and Copies of Tudor Portraits exhibitions end September 9, 2012.
I should also mention that the re-enactment of Katherine Parr’s funeral that I slipped in to a Sunday Short Takes since I figured it would sell out before I got it into this round-up has indeed sold out. But you can still enjoy Sudeley’s exhibition celebrating the 500th anniversary of Katherine Parr’s birth until the end of October.
Also at Sudeley, Alison Sim (author of Food and Feast in Tudor England and The Tudor Housewife, etc.) will be joining Lady Ashcombe for a lunchtime event on September 3rd. See Alison Sim’s website for more information.
On September 13, Maria Hayward (author and editor of several works on the inventories and clothing of the Tudors) will be giving a talk at the National Archives entitled “Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn: clothing, courtship and consequences”. Check the National Archives site for more information. They often have free podcasts of their talks so if they post this one I’ll put it in a future blog entry.
Closer to my neck of the woods, Texas Early Music Project‘s next concert will be “The Tudors: From Henry To Elizabeth” on September 15 & 16 in Austin. I’m not 100% sure if I can make it to the concert but I’m going to try!
Description of the concert:
Popular culture has been interested in all things Tudor in recent years, so more people than ever are interested in the very important courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. We will perform lovely works written by Henry VIII as well as masterpieces from the court composers from both rulers. Our renowned singers will present solo and small ensemble vocal works and viola da gamba superstar, Mary Springfels, will lead our consort of viols.
And finally…
There have been and will be a bunch of events in Southampton’s Tudor Revels but I wanted to point specifically to their Michaelmas Faire on September 29 and 30 that will have a lot of events over those two days. From the press release:
On Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th September the Michaelmas Fair in Southampton sees the oldest part of the city transformed in to a Tudor festival of workshops, living fair, historical re-enactments, storytelling, townsfolk and walks.
The Michaelmas Fair is the busiest weekend of the Tudor Revels project – An exciting programme of events and activities based on the heritage, archives and real lives of Southampton’s Tudor period.
Bugle Street, St Michael
Sunday Short Takes
The last few days have been abuzz with the start of an archaeological dig at a carpark in Leicester in search of the remains of Richard III. In the back of my mind I recalled a previous news article related to the topic and it turns out it was a news article that I linked to back in 2007 (the original news link is no longer active, but this 2012 dig appears to be the one archaeologists were hoping to do back then). There was also a story in 2008 about Richard III’s possible coffin, although I don’t know if further research has been done on that. I’m hoping to be in the area next year so I really hope they find something!
This whole thing reminds me of research I did in to trying to find the modern location of Jasper Tudor’s burial. He was laid to rest at Keynsham Abbey, but the abbey was dissolved in 1539 and now the A4 runs over part of the site. Depending on where within the building Jasper was buried, there is a chance he’s under the Keynsham By-Pass!
Here are just a few of the articles about the dig from the past few days:
* Richard III’s remains: Leicester car park dug up (BBC)
* Is this the lost grave of King Richard III? Archaeologists dig under council car park for monarch killed in Battle of Bosworth (Daily Mail)
* Is Richard III ‘buried under council car park’? (The Telegraph – this one has an informative interview with one of the archaeologists)
Another story that got a lot of coverage last week was the announcement that the BBC will be developing Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall” into a six part mini-series. Like the story above, this rang some bells for me, and sure enough, I posted about it last year (although it doesn’t appear that HBO is involved now).
* Wolf Hall adaptation planned for BBC Two (BBC)
* BBC turns best-selling Henry VIII novel and Booker Prize winner ‘Wolf Hall’ into a mini-series (Mail Online)
And here are a few other interesting things that caught my eye over the past week:
Sunday Short Takes
* 16th century French queen’s pin found in toilet – A hairpin belonging to 16th century French Queen Catherine de Medici has been discovered at a royal residence outside Paris. What has conservators scratching their heads is exactly where it was found: down a communal toilet.
Upcoming books, events, and exhibitions
Sorry that I’m a little late on the June round-up, I’ve been really busy and things got away from me!
Several books that have already been out in one place are now out in others, including Catherine Fletcher’s Our Man in Rome which is published as The Divorce of Henry VIII: The Untold Story from Inside the Vatican in the US and will be out June 19. I have a review copy of the book but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet (I’m still working on another review book!). Also, Patrick Williams’ Catherine of Aragon: A Life has been out for a while in the US and is now out in the UK.
David Loades’ Mary Rose about Mary Tudor, Queen of France and Duchess of Suffolk, came out a few weeks early and is now out in the UK. It is due in July in the US.
Next up is Tudor Survivor: The Life and Times of William Paulet by Margaret Scard. I thought I had posted about this when the hardback came out but I didn’t see it, so here are links for the paperback:
Several more volumes of the “Queenship and Power” series are out soon:
A Monarchy of Letters: Royal Correspondence and English Diplomacy in the Reign of Elizabeth I by Rayne Allinson
Mary I: Gender, Power and Ceremony in the Reign of England’s First Queen by Sarah Duncan
And finally The Last Plantagenet Consorts: Gender, Genre, and Historiography, 1440-1627 by Kavita Mudan Finn:
In the fiction arena…
Alison Weir’s A Dangerous Inheritance about Katherine Grey is out on June 21 in the UK and will be out in October in the US.
And Susan Higginbotham’s Her Highness, The Traitor about Jane Dudley, Duchess of Northumberland and Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk is out in the US and will be out at the end of the month in the UK.
Exhibitions
Double Take: Versions and Copies of Tudor Portraits will run at the National Portrait Gallery, London from June 26 to September 9.
From the website:
This display brings together five pairs of near identical portraits in order to explore how and why multiple versions and copies of portraits were made in the sixteenth century. Portraits of prominent Tudor sitters from the Gallery
Sunday Short Takes
* Historical Reconstruction: Anne Boleyn ‘The Moost Happi’ Portrait Medal – A restored copy of the only surviving undisputed contemporary portrait of Anne Boleyn. (And the copies are for sale!)
* Rare church artefact to be restored – Depicting the royal coat of arms during Edward VI’s seven-year reign from 1547-1553, it is thought to be the oldest of just three in existence.
* e-Petition:Campaign for Statue of Henry VII in Pembroke – Just a note, you do not have live in the UK to sign
Sunday Short Takes
* The Google Art Project (which I first mentioned back in February 2011) has expanded and now includes over 150 collections from 40 countries.
* Summer was the most dangerous time for Tudors – Fatal accidents were much more likely to take place during the agricultural peak season, a study of 16th Century coroner reports has revealed. (Related articles from last year based on the same research by Steven Gunn.)
* Audacious Magazine Call For Submissions – A new magazine is looking for submissions for their issue on Henry VIII
And finally, a couple of interesting video stories from the BBC:
* Sudeley Castle to host lectures on Henry VIII’s wife Katherine Parr
Sunday Short Takes
A few stories from the always-fascinating wreck of the Mary Rose:
* Mary Rose skeletons studied by Swansea sports scientists
* Acid damage is latest battle for the warship Mary Rose
And the latest History Extra podcast from BBC History Magazine features Suzannah Lipscomb talking about Tudor courtiers and Kate Hay talking about the Great Bed of Ware. Be sure to check out the related slide shows:
Sunday Short Takes
Relatively short round-up this week:
* Portrait of Margaret Beaufort, mother and grandmother of kings, is unveiled – Historian David Starkey shows painting of ‘the most powerful woman in Tudor England’ at Hever Castle
* One That Got Away – Interesting story of a manuscript made for Henry VIII from the British Library manuscripts blog
* Time of the Tudors, 1485-1603 – From the People’s Collection Wales
* Experts confirm 16th century letter was written by Mary Queen of Scots – A MYSTERY letter unearthed in Blair Castle in Ayrshire has been confirmed as being written by Mary Queen of Scots. The letter, valued at
Sunday Short Takes
Not a lot of news this week (although I’m sure some got past me while I was in my headcold-induced fog).
A neat video about the conservation of the White Tower of the Tower of London by Historic Royal Palaces:
And a short video about Henry VIII’s defense of Catholicism from BBC Radio 4’s The Art of Monarchy series. Check out the round-up of the series at the Lady Jane Grey Reference Guide blog
