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Semester 1

Picturing Authority: Art and Politics at the Tudor and Stuart Courts (HIAR10134)

Subject

History of Art

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Visiting students must have completed 3 History of Art courses at grade B or above, and please note that we will not consider History courses unrelated to Art, or practical Art courses, towards these pre-requisites. We will only consider University/College level courses. Please see Additional Restrictions below.

Course Summary

This course introduces students to key issues in the relationship between art and politics in sixteenth and seventeenth century Britain. Through close study of a broad cache of visual evidence, it will explore how Tudor and Stuart power was represented and received.

Course Description

Holbein and Henry VIII; Van Dyck and Charles I; Kneller and William III. The visual arts played a crucial role in fashioning and promoting the royal public image. This course introduces students to key issues in the relationship between art and politics in sixteenth and seventeenth century Britain. Through close study of royal portraiture, decorative schemes, printed ephemera, medals and court spectacle, it will explore how monarchs constructed images of authority, assessing the iconography, significance and impact of these efforts. Through individual presentations, group work, class discussion and site visits to, for example, The Scottish National Portrait Gallery and Holyrood House, students will consider important aspects of the fashioning process, including continuities and advances present in representations of each reign; relationships between royal patrons, artists and their public; and the diplomatic and propagandistic efficacy of the visual arts. **1: Introduction: Artistic Relationships: Patron, Artist and Audience. **2: The Portraiture of Power: Holbein and Henry VIII. **3: Reformation and Counter-Reformation: Religion and Art under Edward VI and Mary I. **4: The Elizabethan Icon: Fashioning the Virgin Queen. **5: Peace in our Time: Rubens, James VI and I, and the Art of Diplomacy. **6: The Image of the King: Art at the Court of Charles I. **7: Access and Display: The Spaces of Royal Power. **8: Re-presenting Rule: Tradition and Innovation at the Restoration Court. **9: Image Wars: Propaganda at the Rival Stuart Courts. **10: Mothering the Nation: The Patronage of Queen Anne.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 50%, Coursework 50%, Practical Exam 0%

Additional Restrictions

Unless you are nominated on a History of Art exchange agreement, visiting students are only permitted to enrol in one 3rd year History of Art course each, per semester, before the start of the relevant semester’s welcome period – and spaces on each course are limited so cannot be guaranteed for any student. Enrolment in a second course from this group will depend on whether there are still spaces available in the September Welcome Period, and cannot be guaranteed. It is NOT appropriate for students to contact staff within this subject area to ask for an exception to be made; all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. This is due to the extremely limited number of spaces available in this very popular subject area.

view the timetable and further details for this course