A short round-up this week as I’m recovering from our annual board meeting at work…
* Off with his head – how Henry VIII was decapitated from royal painting – It is one of Tudor England
Category: Art News
Sunday Short Takes
Sorry for any trouble you’ve had reaching the blog this week – the database server at my webhost has been hiccuping and causing problems. It seems to be up most of the time now but a little slow at times. Hopefully they’ll get it all worked out soon!
Now, on with this Sunday’s links:
* Hope Walker has posted the first seven entries of her PhD work on Hans Eworth. See the entries here at the Hans Eworth Catalogue!
* Royals’ own set of kings and queens paintings revealed – “A set of paintings of England
Sunday Short Takes
* BBC1 to screen War of the Roses epic – I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I’m happy to see some more historical drama on TV (especially that period) but on the other, we’ll have to deal with more distortions, misconceptions, and mistakes that need to be set straight.
* Bloody Tales of the Tower – Presented by Suzannah Lipscomb and Joe Crowley for National Geographic. Now *this* one I am unreservedly looking forward to!
Sunday Short Takes
* A follow-up to a story from two weeks ago, Elizabeth Taylor’s necklace containing the pearl ‘La Peregrina’ ended up selling for $11.8 million (
Sunday Short Takes
* Stephan Edwards of Some Grey Matter wrote to tell me of a new addition to his site, the Historia delle cose occorse nel regno
Sunday Short Takes
* Tanner Ritchie’s annual Holiday and New Year sale is on again! If you’re in to primary sources this is a great place to get some at a good price.
* Chatham dig finds Tudor dockyard remains
* Novel Approaches: From Academic History to Historical Fiction – The IHR had their first virtual conference on this topic and you can see all the presentations at the website.
And finally…
* If you have a few spare tens of thousands of pounds, you can bid on some late 16th century (or later) portraits of Catherine of Aragon and Katherine Parr on auction next week at Christie’s. And if you have a few spare MILLION – you can bid on some of Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry, including La Peregrina, a pearl given to Mary I by her husband Philip of Spain. Many centuries later it was given to Taylor by her husband Richard Burton (who played Henry VIII in Anne of the Thousand Days).
Sunday Short Takes
* Westminster Abbey’s junk room has the best view in Europe – I really hope they are able to open this room up to the public permanently because I want to see it!
* Royal matters – Interesting answer on the question of the numbering of King Edwards
Sunday Short Takes
Since I didn’t do a round-up last week, I didn’t get around to posting about the discovery of Sir Francis Drake’s final fleet and the possible resting place of Drake himself. Here are a few of the many news stories that ran about the discovery:
* Sir Francis Drake’s final fleet ‘discovered off the coast of Panama’
Sir Francis Drake’s body ‘close to being found off Panama’
Wrecks that promise to unlock the mystery of Francis Drake’s final resting place
And a few other news items that caught my eye last week:
* Brierfield treasure hunter finds Tudor ring
* Britain’s oldest family business opened when Henry VIII ruled
And finally, Medievalists.net visited the Making History exhibition at the McMullen Museum at Boston College (I mentioned it in a previous Sunday short takes) and recorded an interview with the museum’s director. Tudor history fans will recognize the portrait in the background!
Two New Faces: the Hornebolte Portraits of Mary and Thomas Boleyn?
Roland Hui has written another fascinating and well-researched article about Tudor portraiture (do read his article A Reassessment of Queen Anne Boleyn
Sunday Short Takes
Short round-up this week:
* Inteview with Dr Erin Sadlack, author of The French Queen’s Letters: Mary Tudor Brandon and the Politics of Marriage in 16th Century Europe at the Lady Jane Grey Reference Guide Blog.
* Treasures from the London Library: The Strongest Link – Part of a History Today series of articles on Treasures from the London Library that includes lots of interesting 16th century texts.
* And from the History Today archive: The Sinking of the Mary Rose (originally published in 1982, the year the ship was raised)
Sunday Short Takes
* Kenilworth Castle displaying mysterious portrait of Elizabeth I – This is the painting that I posted about last year that was studied by the National Portrait Gallery. Here’s more information from English Heritage.
* British Library’s Treasures in Full: Renaissance Festival Books – I thought I had posted about this collection before, but I couldn’t find it in the archives. This is a collection of over 250 16th and 17th century books from around Europe digitized by the British Library.
* Ancient music books accessible to all – Another great digitization project, this time of early music books. The archive is at Early Music Online.
And finally…
* Wendy Dunn is teaming up with Natalie Grueninger of On the Tudor Trail to bring back the Tudor Ghost Story Contest! I know some of you will be pleased to hear this since I still occasionally get emails asking if the contest would be back – and now it is! There will be a US $5 fee to enter, with all of the money going to the Mary Rose Trust.
Sunday Short Takes
Sunday Short Takes
* Nancy Bilyeau’s debut novel “The Crown” will be out early next year, but US readers can enter to win an advanced copy through Goodreads! Find out more about the drawing here. And allow me a small moment of pride in mentioning that Nancy is a submitter and commenter on my Tudor Q&A blog. I’m always amazed by the knowledgeable and talented people who have stumbled across the site!
* A Tudor Herbal c. 1520 – I think How to Be a Retronaut is embarking on a campaign to get on to this round-up every week by continuing to post cool things like this!
* Market news: Elizabethan costume piece tops Cowdray sale – A portrait once thought to have been of Elizabeth I by Marcus Gheeraerdts, sold above the estimate for
Sunday Short Takes
A lot shorter than last week…
* Article by John Edwards, author of Mary I: England’s Catholic Queen – The book is the one I mentioned in my late-August round-up of Upcoming lectures, classes, exhibitions and books
* The Tudor Pattern Book – another gem from How to be a Retronaut
* The October issue of BBC History Magazine is out and features an article on Sir Francis Walsingham. Be sure to also check out the podcast interview with the article’s author.
And finally…
* Lady Jane Grey makes an appearance – This was tweeted to me and had a better version of the photo than the one that showed up in my news alerts. I’m still amused at the use of Tudor or Tudor-influenced art in fashion, although having Henry VIII on your knickers still takes the cake.
Elizabeth’s Haunted Portrait
No, not a tale of spooky happenings around a piece of art, but rather a funny Halloween decoration I stumbled upon at the craft store the other day.
(Sorry for the cruddy cell phone pics.)
This is one of those things that has one image when you look at it from one angle and then another when viewed from the other side. I should have taken the photos with the glowing red eyes on too. They had a couple of others, all based on Renaissance portraits, and I *think* one of them was Sir Walter Raleigh, or perhaps Sir Francis Drake.
And no, I didn’t buy it since I didn’t see how much it was and I was already spending enough money on the magnifying lamp I went in for. (Fellow needleworkers will understand – I was stitching on a small project that had some parts that were on 28-ct fabric over one and my eyes basically said “No way lady!”, hence the new lamp.)
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Sunday Short Takes
I had a really busy week and lots of interesting stories that should have had dedicated blog posts came along, but unfortunately I just didn’t have the time to write them up. So, you get a massive link dump today instead. 🙂
* Early Journal Content on JSTOR, Free to Anyone in World – The electronic journal database JSTOR has opened up, for free access, content for which the copyright has expired.
* Oxford research ‘recreates’ Henry VIII’s Nonsuch Palace and A king’s ransom for Nonsuch Palace model – Neat reproduction of the lost palace
* Anne Boleyn gave birth to Princess Elizabeth on September 7th, 1533. Susan Walters Schmid provides an interpretation of Anne Boleyn’s life, who, even almost 500 years after her death, remains an intriguing figure. – Published on the History Today website on Elizabeth I’s birthday
* Mary Queen of Scots necklace on display – the necklace will be on display through October 31 at Annet House Museum in Linlithgow, Scotland
* Quadripartite Indenture – Indenture between Henry VII and the monks of Westminster Abbey from 1504 featured on the British Library’s Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts Blog
* McMullen Museum hosts rare treasures of British history – A great chance to see some Tudor and other British history treasures on display in the US. More information from the museum
From the “I really should pick up a lottery ticket department”:
* Homes of the Week: Castle Lodge, Ludlow – Just outside the walls of Ludlow Castle
Sunday Short Takes
Just a few short links today since I have several things that I want to dedicate their own posts to in the next few days…
* In honor of the final Harry Potter movie, a Tudor recipe for Buttered Beere from Historical Foods
* Rare portraits of England’s early monarchs in London display – More from the Making Art in Tudor Britain research project of the National Portrait Gallery
Sunday Short Takes
* I’m sure most of you have already heard about this but the National Portrait Gallery announced last week that the funding goal for the preservation work on the Anne Boleyn portrait has been reached! They will update that page periodically with progress reports. (My original post about the needed work can be found here.)
* Vatican’s Secret Archives on display in Rome exhibition – From the article: “An appeal by the English Parliament asking the Pope to annul Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon will be among 100 priceless documents from the Vatican’s Secret Archives to go on display in an unprecedented exhibition in Rome.”
* Cardinal Thomas Wolsey statue unveiled in Ipswich – Pictures from the unveiling of the statue project that I’ve linked to in the past
* King Henry VIII Gets a New Coat – The Henry VIII statue at the Mary Rose Museum (my Picture of the Week #122) got a bit of a spruce up earlier this year and is now back in place
Sunday Short Takes
* New Battle of Bosworth trail reveals the true location of the historic English battlefield
* BBC History Magazine’s August 2011 Tudor Special
* BBC – Your Paintings – From the “About” page: Your Paintings is a website which aims to show the entire UK national collection of oil paintings, the stories behind the paintings, and where to see them for real. It is made up of paintings from thousands of museums and other public institutions around the country.
Sunday Short Takes
Yes, the Sunday news round-up is back! Sorry it’s been quiet around here, I’ve been working on a few projects and taking some time off but now I should be back on a regular schedule until I take some more time off in August.
* I’ve mentioned this project many times over the past few years, and now the restored royal apartmetns at Stirling Castle are open! The video in the link to the STV story has some neat views and a snippet of the weavers still working on the reproduction tapestries for the castle. STV – Stirling Castle apartments reopen after makeover (with video) and BBC – Doors open after
